The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

February 8, 1969

The Hockey News February 8, 1969

<h2>MASSACHUSETTS JUNIOR</h2>(Standing on Mon. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02666/2894459-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="584" height="173"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03552/2894452-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="592" height="281"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04428/2894445-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="592" height="215"></div><h2>MINNESOTA JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Sun. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-05325/2894438-1-eng-US/f0010-052.jpg" title="f0010-05" width="588" height="167"></div><h2>RUSSIAN TOUR</h2>Jan. 19, TorontoRussia 4, Canada 2Jan. 21. VancouverRussia 7, Canada 0Jan. 22, VictoriaRussia 8, Canada 3Jan. 24, OttawaRussia 10. Canada 2Jan. 26, WinnipegRussia 4. Canada 2Jan. 28, WinnipegRussia 3, Canada 2Jan. 30, OttawaRussia 10, Canada 4Jan. 31, LondonRussia 6, Canada 5Feb. 2, QuebecRussia 7. Canada 4<h3>OVERAU RECORD</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-06254/2894431-1-eng-US/f0010-062.jpg" title="f0010-06" width="582" height="85"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Hockey Races

NEW YORK. N.Y &mdash;Edward J. (Eddie) Jeremiah. long-time Dartmouth College hockey coach who orice directed the Indians to a record 46 consecutive games without a loss, has been selected a second winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy for 1969.The trophy, to be awarded posthumously at a dinner here at Toots Shor&rsquo;s Restaurant on Tuesday evening. February 18th, is for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.Jeremiah died at the age of 61 on June 7. 1967, only a few weeks before he was to have retired as the coach of the Indians&rsquo; varsity hockey and freshman baseball squads.Jeremiah, often called &ldquo;Mr. Dartmouth&rdquo; was named a Patrick Trophy recipient by a five-man committee that included Clarence S. Campbell, president of the National Hockey League; William W. Wirtz, president of the Chicago Black Hawks; Jack Griffin, sports editor of United Press International; Peter Axthelm. sports editor of Newsweek Magazine and William Mac Phail. vicepresident of Television Network Sports for the. Columbia Broadcasing System.Bobby Hull, the high-scoring left wing of the Black Hawks, also was chosen by the same committee to receive the Patrick Trophy earlier this week.Jeremiah, who played hockey at Dartmouth and later for a number of professional teams including the New York Americans and Boston Bruins of the National League, took over as coach at the Hanover, New Hampshire college in 1937. A native of Worcester. Mass., he was one among a relatively small number of American-born athletes to play in the NHL.Jeremiah served as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II. However, in the years immediately preceding and following the military service, his Dartmouth teams played 46 games without a loss, establishing a college record. Under his leadership, the Indians won 305 games, lost 243 and tied 12. During seven of his first nine seasons as coach, Dartmouth captured the Pentagonal HockeyLeague championship. &#9632;

U.S. Coach Eddie Jeremiah Given Posthumous Award

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div>SEATTLE. Wash. &mdash;While Coach Bill MacFarland of the Seattle Totems was jotting down his starting lineup for a game early in December, he was asked, &ldquo;When&rsquo;s your club going to make its move?&rdquo; &ldquo;When we get Earl Heiskala back,&rdquo; MacFarland answered matter-of-factly, then turned to watch the warmup drills.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01445/2895463-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="271" height="396"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill MacFarland</figcaption></div>Well, Heiskala, a hard-rock winger who was a Seattle hero the past three seasons, is back with the Tot&rsquo;ems, returned by the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockev League.So?As February approached, Heiskala had played six games. And Seattle had not lost one of those six clashes.The Totems suddenly were playing like the team that for the last two years has won the Lester Patrick Cup in the Western Hockey League playoffs.Heiskala, without question, will help in the tough stretch run. He scored 26 goals for Seattle last season. And even more important, he is one of members of professional hockey&rsquo;s vanishing breed &mdash; the hitting forward.He hit with so much enthusiasm last season, in fact, that he led the Western League in penalty minutes with 157.But Heiskala can&rsquo;t be given all the credit for the resurgence of the Totems. The climb, after all, started a month before he arrived.Coach MacFarland never had been impressed by San Diego&rsquo;s explosion from the gate this season. He rated Portland and Vancouver as the teams to beat. And he had said early and publicly, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll pass San Diego.&rdquo;For a time it seemed pretty loose talk for an attorney (which MacFarland is), to say nothing of a hockey coach.And back on December 11, the Totems had won only twice in nine consecutive games, had a 9-14-5 record in the standings.Then Seattle moved. In their next 18 games, they also won 9 and tied 5 &mdash; but lost only 4 instead of 14. As February approached, the Totems were on their longest unbeaten streak of the season &mdash; eight in a row &mdash; and were just four points back of San Diego.The biggest turnabout in the Totems&rsquo; play was in road games.They could win only two of their first 14 games away from home this season. Then they put together a winning record &mdash; 5 victories. 4 defeats, 3 ties &mdash; in their next 12 on foreign ice.And a sputtering offense suddenly was picking up. too. The Totems averaged 2.6 goals a game from the season opener through December. In January, the production climbed to four goals a game.A battle for Seattle&rsquo;s first regular-season title since 1959 was not an impossibility in the stretch run.For one thing, the February and March schedule was favorable. The Totems would play 16 at home where they were 11-5-4 through January 28 and only 1.1 on the road where they were 7-14-5.And a number of proven lamp lighters were overdue for explosions, too.After 46 games this season, Don Chiz had only two goals. He scored 18 two years ago, 27 three years ago.Bill Dineen had seven goals. He led Seattle with 28 last year, sniped 32 two seasons back.Art Stratton had seven goals. Two vears ago he scored 34.Jim Powers had eight goals. His total two seasons back was 28.And Larry Lund had only three goals. Two years ago he exploded for 34.Add &lsquo;em up and you find that after 46 games the Totems had benefited from only 27 goals from five players who just two vears ago scored 146.Stratton, incidentally, had a bit of tough luck just when he finally was starting to play to form. He scored three goals and three assists in two games, then was sidelined with a mild shoulder separation. He was expected to be going full stride again in a short time, however.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1098/2895456-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="562" height="555"><figcaption class="caption-body">EARL HEISKALA &hellip; Hard Rock Comes Back</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Heiskala’s Return Helps Lift Totems

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-02120/2896264-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg" title="f0001-02" width="533" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Carol Vadnais</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-01147/2896271-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg" title="f0001-01" width="224" height="269"></div>&mdash;ON THE INSIDEVadnais Challenging Super Bruin Bobby Orr &mdash; page 24<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0355/2896257-1-eng-US/f0001-032.jpg" title="f0001-03" width="1784" height="1593"></div>LORNE WORSLEY Back on beam<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0410/2896250-1-eng-US/f0001-042.jpg" title="f0001-04" width="501" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Watson</figcaption></div>New Penguin&hellip; &mdash; page 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-055/2896243-1-eng-US/f0001-052.jpg" title="f0001-05" width="489" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Favell</figcaption></div>Sent Down&hellip; &mdash; page 2 &#9632;

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MONTREAL EYEING TOP AGAIN WITH RETURN OF THE GUMPER

<div class="byline">BY LOU PRATO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01693/2893872-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="544" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN WATSON&hellip;Key Man In Trade</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02653/2893865-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="556" height="582"><figcaption class="caption-body">EARL INGARFIELD&hellip;Swapped To Seals</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH, Pa.&mdash;With time rapidly running out on them, the Pittsburgh Penguins went to the trading block this past week for the second time in 10 days.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03541/2893858-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="256" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gene Ubriaco</figcaption></div>The Penguins, who have slipped deep into last place in the National League&rsquo;s Western Division, engaged in a three-for-three swap with the Oakland Seals in an exchange the lowly Penguins hope will give their sagging defense more balance and muscle.Pittsburgh traded forwards Earl Ingarfield and Gene Ubriaco along with defenseman Dick Mattiussi to the Seals in return for Oakland&rsquo;s defensemenforward Bryan Watson, forward George Swarbrick and defenseman Tracy Pratt.Penguins&rsquo; general manager Jack Riley said the club had to sacrifice some scoring power in order to acquire defensive strength. Riley singled out the bruising Watson as the key man in the multiple player trade.In recent weeks, there has been more shuffling on the Penguins roster than one finds in a poker game. Injuries have been partly responsible. But, coach Red Sullivan and Riley have been wheeling-and-dealing in an effort to come up with a winning combination.&ldquo;We had to make changes,&rdquo; a dejected Riley said. &ldquo;We have to do everything we can to get back on the track. But what can we do that we haven&rsquo;t been doing? I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;One of the most surprising moves was the trade of veteran defenseman Leo Boivin to Minnesota for Duane Rupp. The trade stunned Penguin players who had turned to the experienced Boivin for advice.&ldquo;I was disappointed in Leo,&rdquo; Sullivan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not knocking the guy cause he isn&rsquo;t here. He&rsquo;s a great guy and I respect him for all his 17 years in the league. But he wasn&rsquo;t doing the job.&rdquo;Riley figures he has added five years to the Penguins roster since Rupp is six years younger than the popular Boivin.&ldquo;I honestly feel Leo may quit at the end of this season,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;If he does, well, we&rsquo;ll now have Rupp for four or five years.Other enguin moves have seen Paul Andrea and Gary Swain brought up from Amarillo; Bill Speer go down and then return; Jean-Guv LeGace and Mattiussi come up and stay on their hustle.But, perhaps, the most significant move will be made in the front office. If the Penguins fail, the jobs of both Sullivan and Riley will be in jeporady. And both men know it.&ldquo;Sure we&rsquo;re under pressure,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t make the playoffs then management will have to sit down and analyze the situation. They&rsquo;ll have to decide whether or not we&rsquo;re doing the job. It&rsquo;s their business and it&rsquo;s up to them.&ldquo;But no one is more disappointed with the club than Red and I. We think about it at all hours in the day. We take it to bed with us and we wake up in the morning with it.&ldquo;We try everything and still we&rsquo;re not winning. We lost 12 games by one goal and many of those should have gone our way. Our home record is pitiful. We&rsquo;ve won just four games. Maybe we tighten up at home. But if we could play better at home we&rsquo;d be in contention.&rdquo;The Penguins poor play on home ice may be the first subject under review by the Pittsburgh franchise&rsquo;s owners. Home attendance is down. But a winner would bring the fans in.More than 10,000 turned out January 25 to see Toronto at the Civic Arena. Pittsburgh was in the middle of a losing streak but still the fans came out to see if the Penguins could cool oft the surging Maple Leafs. They failed, but didn&rsquo;t look had in the process.But how many of those fans will return a question, &mdash; unless additional changes bring about a miracle finish. &#9632;

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Desperate Penguins Land Watson, Two Other Seals In Six-Player Exchange

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>LOS ANGELES &mdash; Jacques j Caron, goalkeeper, recalled from I Denver of WHL. Bryan Campbell, forward, assigned to Springfield of AHL.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; Doug Favell, goalkeeper, and Rosaire Paiement, forward, sent to Quebec of AHL. Dune Wilson, goalkeeper, recalled from Quebec as standby netminder.PITTSBURGH &mdash; Earl Ingarfield and Gene Ubriaco, forwards and Dick Mattiussi, defenseman, traded to Oakland of NHL in exchange for Bryan Watson and Tracy Pratt, defensemen. and George Swarbrick, forward.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BALTIMORE &mdash; Nick Pola-no, defenseman, optioned to Amarillo of CHL.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>PORT HURON &mdash; Bob Howard, defenseman, secured from Des Moines of lHL.DES MOINES &mdash; Howie Milford, club general manager, activated as player.<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>NEW HAVEN &mdash; Ken Leibel, I forward, dropped from roster. &#9632;

Movements of Players

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. &mdash;Doug Favell, one of the big surprises of last year&rsquo;s National Hockey League expansion season, is back in the minor leagues today.The Philadelphia Flyers figured Favell was rusting on the bench and when he fell victim of a 12-0 drubbing by the Chicago Black Hawks last week, they were convinced he needed more ice time.Club general manager Bud Poile assigned Favell to the Quebec Aces of the American League with the understanding that he play regularly to give him an opportunity to regain his rookie year form.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04383/2893927-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="250" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Favell</figcaption></div>Favell and Bernie Parent were among the leading netminders in the NHL during 1967-68 but this season the pair haven&rsquo;t experienced the success they enjoyed last year.Both were in goal when the Hawks ran wild in the Jan. 30 game. Each was nicked for six goals. Poile refused to blame Favell entirely for the rout. &#9632;

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Flyers Option Favell To Get More Ice Time

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05268/2893965-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="556" height="297"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06174/2893958-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="550" height="306"></div>Ken McKenzie&rsquo;s column . 4 Bill Libby&rsquo;s column &hellip;&hellip;8Ed Fitkin&rsquo;s column 14 Crossword Puzzle .23AHL &hellip;. 16 WHL &hellip;. 19 CHL &hellip;.20 EHL &hellip;c. 21 IHL &hellip; 22 &#9632;

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WHERE THE NHL TEAMS ARE

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT. Mich.&mdash;The mark of a winner is the ability to win one goal games. And the Red Wings, tightening up defensively and receiving excellent goalkeeping, have been doing just that in their bid to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in three years.Closing out January, the fourth month of the season with two left, the Wings had played 11 one goal games. Add three more in which the goalkeeper was pulled and a score resulted and it makes 14, more that one-quarter of the games the teams has played.And the record for the one goal decisions is nine victories against five defeats. Importantly, five of the victories were against the teams the Wings feel they must beat to gain a playoff position &mdash; Toronto, Chicago and New York.While the one goal games have caused general manager Sid Abel&rsquo;s ulcer to boil and made coach Bill Gadsby chew his gum even faster &mdash; he holds the National Hockey League record in gum-chewing &mdash; the results are worth it.The one-goal games have been giving the Wings&rsquo; rookies hard lessons in pressure play and they&rsquo;re learning. Several of them still have trouble with the puck along the boards, just inside their own blue line but the defense and the goalkeeping prevented serious damage as the Wings chalked up and 8-4-2 won-lost-tied record for January.It was a month in which the Wings won six straight and were unbeaten in seven, all with Roy Edwards in goal, a month in which they extended their Olympia unbeaten string to 12 games on nine victories and three ties.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02576/2894034-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="533" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">ED HATOUM&hellip; Rookie Catches On</figcaption></div>It also was the first month in which they didn&rsquo;t do extensive personnel juggling. There was one switch. Danny Lawson, who set the Hamilton Junior &lsquo;A&rsquo; Red Wings&rsquo; goal record last season with 52 in 54 games, was sent down to Fort Worth to try and get untracked and Eddie Hatoum, the Beirut-born right wing was called up to take his place.That move paid an immediate dividend when Hatoum scored the winning goal in a matinee game with Oakland, turning in Pete Stemkowski&rsquo;s pass from the right boards at 13:45 of the final period.That was one of the one-goal games with Bruce MacGregor clinching it with a shot into the vacant Oakland net at 19:45. It was a big victory, too, since Oakland had charged into a 2-0 first period lead and the Wings were completely disorganized.Hatoum looked good in a four game trial in December during which he scored his first NHLgoal, the go-ahead goal in 4-2 victory over New York.&ldquo;They told me before I went back to Fort Worth that I&rsquo;d be coming up again,&rdquo; the swarthy Lebanese said, &ldquo;but I was beginning to doubt it. I didn&rsquo;t feel too bad &mdash; I was doing pretty well in Fort Worth.&rdquo;Then, in the third period of a game on Friday night in Dallas, coach Fern Flaman told Hatoum it was the last game he was playing for him, that he&rsquo;d been ordered back to Detroit.Hatoum arrived at Olympia 90 minutes before game time the next day and played as if he hadn&rsquo;t been away. The players have various nicknames for him, the kind they usually give to someone from the Middle East &hellip; like Sand Scratcher, Camel Jockey, and so forth.But one of the fans was more with the times. Since Eddie&rsquo;s last name is pronounced &ldquo;HaTOOM&rdquo; , the fan yelled out &ldquo;Sock Ha-TOOM&rdquo; . Honest.And nentioning fans, there&rsquo;s nothing like a winning club to bring them out. The Wings packed in 15,347 for a 3-2 victory over Toronto, the largest crowd ever to see the Wings play at Olympia where the seating capacity is 13,208. They were practically standing on each others&rsquo; shoulders, prying loose anything that wasn&rsquo;t nailed down to stand on.In a four day span hockey drew 53,882 fans to Olympia, 14,898 for the Bruins, 9,973 for the Red Wing-Toronto Old-Timers Game on Friday, 13,664 for Oakland Saturday and then the record crowd for the Leafs.Terry Sawchuk made his first home start of the season and his first appearance in two months.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03384/2894027-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1197" height="1601"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY SAWCHUK &hellip; Veteran returns to Detroit Net</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Red Wings Climb Back Into Playoff Contention By Winning Tight Games

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01695/2893996-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK MAHOVLICH &hellip; More Relaxed In Detroit</figcaption></div>DETROIT, Mich.&mdash;Frank Mahovlich had 40 goals in 48 games in 1960-61 and missed a 50-goal season by two goals while Bernie Geoffrion boomed by him and became the second man in hockey&rsquo;s modern era to score 50.Now the Big M is flying again with the game&rsquo;s greatest playmaker and the game&rsquo;s No. 3 all-time point man feeding him. Can he do it this time?&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to,&rdquo; the 31-year-old Detroit left wing said after matching his age with his 31st goal in the Wings&rsquo; 48th game, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t know if there&rsquo;s enough time.&rdquo;Through the 48 games Mahovlich averaged .645 goals per game. Carrying that out over the 76 game schedule would leave him one shy of 50. However, Mahovlich has the ability to score goals in clusters and that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ve got to do to score 50. He also has the ability to get hot for protracted periods &mdash; like a spell of 15 goals in 14 games.He&rsquo;s had one four goal game, against Oakland, and a pair of three goal games, against Boston and Minnesota. During 11 seasons in Toronto he had exactly six three or more goal games.What&rsquo;s the big difference? First, a more relaxed attitude after getting away from Toronto, the pressures of the city where hockey is the primary sport and the pressure of playing for Punch Imlach with whom Frank didn&rsquo;t play bridge, drink beer or discuss the problems of the world. Not that he does that with Bill Gadsby in Detroit, it&rsquo;s just that the atmosphere is different.And, incidentally, while the Big M and Imlach weren&rsquo;t close, Imlach misses Mahovlich mightily. He&rsquo;s talked trade with Sid Abel, the Wing general manager, several times recently. &ldquo;The only name he mentions is Mahovlich,&rdquo; said Abel, hardly hiding his satisfaction.The second big factor in the Big M&rsquo;s surge toward 50 is playing on a line with Howe and Delvecchio. To score 50 you&rsquo;ve got to get&rsquo; the puck and there is no one who can get the puck better and do more with it than Gordon Howe.When Mahovlich was going for 50 in 1960-61 with Toronto his linemates were Red Kelly at center and Bob Nevin on right wing. At the time King Clancy, Imlach&rsquo;s No. 1 aide, credited part of Frank&rsquo;s success to Kelly and commented that Howe and Kelly were the two best passers in the game.And, playing on a line wit.h Howe, hockey&rsquo;s all-time scoring champion, and Delvecchio who ranks behind only Howe and Jean Beliveau as a point producer, it means a rival club can&rsquo;t concentrate its defensive efforts on Mahovlich without being killed by Howe and Delvecchio. It&rsquo;s a nice situation for Mahovlich &hellip; and the Red Wings.Meanwhile, the Big M gets bigger and just might get those 50 goals, a plateau that not even Howe has reached. Gordie&rsquo;s best was 49. &#9632;

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’BIG M’ ADMITS TIME SHORT BUT HE’D LIKE TO SCORE 50

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by Ken-Will Publishing Co. Ltd. 1434 St. Catherine Street West Montreal 3, Canada.Kenneth W. McKenzie William Z. StevensonPresident and Publisher Managing DirectorYearly Subscription Rates: $5.00 in Canada$6.00 in the U.S.A, and $8.00 in Foreign Countries.Postage paid atRouses Point, N.Y. Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa and for payment of postage in cash.Printed in CanadaVol. 22 MONTREAL, FEBRUARY 8, 1969 No. 18<h2>Alter Alignment Of NHL Squads</h2>I would like to propose a realignment of the teams in the Eastern and Western Divisions of the NHL so that clubs in the older division-now capable of being eliminated from the playoffs with records better than most of those in the West who made them would receive a more deserved fate.I would recommend that the realigned divisions keep the format of playing eight games against opponents in their division and six games against those in the other section.My proposed realignment is as follows: East: Montreal, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo/St. Louis. West: Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, St. Louis/Oakland.With the playing location of the Oakland Seals in doubt as of this writing, I have left the last position open as to finalization as shown. If the franchise is shifted to Buffalo, they would be in the Eastern Division. If the team remains in Oakland, St. Louis would then be placed in the East.I believe this is a fair and equitable solution which would give the teams with the best records a chance to advance to the playoffs.THEODORE PALIZZOLO JR Middleton, Mass.<h2>Blues&rsquo; Berenson Must Be A Fluke</h2>I am a Ranger fan and was a bit disgusted with Red Berenson when he was playing for New York. I was immensely happy when they traded him to St. Louis for Ron Stewart last season.I had always wondered what was wrong with Berenson. He was given enough ice time everywhere he played, and I think anyone who makes the NHL should be, and is, a good hockey player. But he floundered for so long that even the Rangers grew tired of him and dealt him off.Now he is suddenly playing like Maurice Richard and Bobby Hull rolled into one. But I think Berenson is a fluke. After all, he has been mediocre at best throughout his career. Then is traded to the weaker division, scores like a fiend, and is named player-of-the-year in the West in some quarters.All of that St. Louis club is a bunch of old retreads. But the only man I hope gets younger is Jacques Plante. I hope he stays around for 10 more years. To me, he and Ed Giacomin are the most colorful goalies this league has ever seen. JIM GRIER, Jersey City, N.J.<h2>We Was Robbed Claims Flett Fan</h2>Please answer one question How is it possible, with three officials on the ice, one goal judge off the ice, that Cowboy Flett of the L.A. Kings can score a goal twice against the same team (St. Louis), one home game January 1 and one away game January 7; yet none of the officials saw the puck go in the net (both goals were disallowed)?T.H. FORREST, Culver City, Cal.<h2>Should Not Split All-Star Forwards</h2>I read recently in THE HOCKEY NEWS where it was generally agreed upon that the team selected to play the Russian National team should be an all-star team.Iagree to a certain extent. 1 believe that the goalies, defensemen, and the reserve forwards should be all-stars. But I also believe that rather than selecting individuals for the top three lines that the top three scoring lines in the league should be selected. These lines are generally made up of all-stars anyway, and the forward unfortunate enough to be a &ldquo;lone threat&rdquo; on a line may be kept in reserve.Imagine the Russians trying to cope with the likes of Murphy-Esposito-Hodge, Howe-Delvecchio-Mahovlich, and Hull-Mi kit a-Wharram. With stars such as Beliveau, Berenson, and Ullman in reserve this would be a potent team. I agree that may be some of the other stars would be &ldquo;cheated&rdquo; but in a game such as this the NHL is only interested in winning and the best wav to do this is with lines that can play together prolifically.TONY VANEK Maywood, Ill. &#9632;

Fan Forum

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01757/2894110-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="384" height="486"></div>&bull; MINNESOTA NORTH STARS passed the 300,000 mark in attendance last Saturday&hellip; Wren Blair is determined that his team is going to move into the fourth spot in the Western Divisionstandings &hellip; One of the hottest rookies in the NHL right now is Dick Sarrazin of the Philadelphia Flyers. Although he missed the first third of the schedule the 22-year-old Sarrazin, youngest member of the Fivers, scored 10 goals and assisted on 21 others in 29 games. Now playing his second season as a professional, Sarrazin is just one ot 10 rookies to perform for the Flyers this season. General Manager Bud Poile has been more than pleased with the showing of his first-year players &hellip; Emile Francis refuses to take credit for the improved play of the Rangers since he took over the coaching reins. &ldquo;After all we were a second place team last year.&rdquo; says Emile. &ldquo;I still think we are&rdquo; &hellip; Maybe so, but there&rsquo;s no doubt that Francis has got the club moving for the first time this season &hellip; Montreal&rsquo;s John Ferguson is one of the most penalized players in the league (135 minutes at last look) but only three times have the opposition scored while he was in the penalty coop. He is also on his way to his best goal effort in NHL play and is ready to pass his 20-goal effort of two years ago &hellip; It looks like either Detroit&rsquo;s Big Line of Howe-Delvecchio and Frank Mahovlich or Boston&rsquo;s potent threesome of Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Ron Murphy will end up as the highest-scoring unit in the NHL this season &hellip; Brad Park, New York&rsquo;s fine young rookie defenseman, doesn&rsquo;t pick his spots. Recently he chewed out Gordie Howe after the big Wing star had roughed him up &hellip; &ldquo;Brad will fool you,&rdquo; says Emile Francis, his coach and general manager. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so young and mild-looking and baby-faced that he just doesn&rsquo;t figure to be a big hitter. But he is.&rdquo; &hellip; Gary Smith, Oakland&rsquo;s tall goalkeeper, has been nickamed &ldquo;Joe Namath&rdquo; by his teammates.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02708/2894103-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="247" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Park</figcaption></div>&bull; COLUMBIA RECORD CLUB has a wonderful two-page spread in the February issue of HOCKEY PICTORIAL. This is the same issue that features a story on Mrs. Tommy Ivan titled: &ldquo;Mrs. General Manager&rdquo; &hellip; One of the best hockey announcers in the U.S. is Roy Storey of San Francisco &hellip; Harvey Kilpatrick, sports information director of Utah State University for the past five years, has been appointed director of public relations, promotions and advertising for the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles of the Western Phil Esposito Hockey League &hellip; Larry Wilson has been doing a fine job as coach of Lefty McFadden&rsquo;s Davton Gems of the IHL. The Gems have been averaging well over 4.000 per game since early December &hellip; Vic Hadfield was picked as the No. 1 star for three consecutive games at Madison Square Garden. The rugged New York forward ranks as one of the most valuable all-around players in the league &hellip; When Los Angeles Kings downed the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1, in LA the other night it marked the fourth straight win for the Kings over the Leafs in Los Angeles &hellip; If Phil Esposito wins the NHL scoring crown he will be the first Boston player to do it since 1943-44 when Herbie Cain carried off top honors &hellip; Incidentally, there is an excellent profile on Esposito in the February issue of HOCKEY PIC IORIAL &hellip; New York&rsquo;s bobby-soxers may have to find another idol. Word is out that Rod Gilbert plans to marry soon &hellip; Esposito stands a good chance of being the first NHL player to score 100 points in a season. The record is 97 and is held by Chicago&rsquo;s Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull &hellip; but the way the tall Boston center is going he should crack the 97 mark.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03610/2894096-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="258" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div>&bull; THE LAST-PLACE Pittsburgh Penguins have won only four of their last 23 games at home&hellip; In last Sunday&rsquo;s game in St. Louis between the Blues and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mrs. Noel Picard, wife of the Blues&rsquo; defenseman, sang Canada&rsquo;s national anthem&hellip; Mrs. Mary Schoendienst. wife of the St. Louis baseball manager, followed with the United States anthem&hellip; Mrs. Schoendienst did the same thing last year during the World Series&hellip; New York Rangers have defeated Montreal Canadiens four times in their last five meetings&hellip; Vic Hadfield and Ron Stewart are the most effective Rangers against the Stanley Cup champs with six and three goals respectively&hellip; The California rains washed Red Kelly and his family out of their home&hellip; When Gordie Stratton scored his 350th Eastern Hockey League goal recently, two of his most loyal fans. Harry Smith and Jim Autobody, along with Superior Auto Parts, presented the Jersey Devils&rsquo; ace with a clock trophy&hellip; Well-known hockey people to pass on recently were Lionel Hitchman, former defense great with the Boston Bruins; Herb Mitchell, long-time scout for the Hershey Bears and former player with Boston and coach of Hershey; and Bobby Hewitson, original curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame and ex-NHL referee&hellip; Hitchman was 68 and passed away at Glenn Falls, N.Y&hellip; . Herb Mitchell died at Trenton Ont. and he was 70&hellip; Hewitson was 76 and died in his native Toronto&hellip; Dale Rolfe of the Los Angeles Kings at six feet-four inches is the tallest player in the NHL and the LA Kings are the tallest team in all of hockey. No fewer than 12 members of the Kings stand six-feet or taller&hellip; Chicago&rsquo;s 12-0 rout over Philadelphia was the most onesided win over an expansion club.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04526/2894089-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="262" height="339"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gordie Stratton</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

TWIN CITIES. Minn.&mdash;Wren Blair&rsquo;s acquisition of veteran detenseman Leo Boivin from Pittsburgh (for Duane Rupp) still left the club with six blueliners and caused some observers to get the feeling that ex-Ranger rearguard Wayne Hillman may be headed else where &hellip; Defenseman Moose Vasko was named captain before the Jan. 23 Pittsburgh game &hellip;Blair moved rookie centerman Walt Mc-Kechnie into the pivot spot on his No. 3 line bv putting Andre Boudrias.on the left side &hellip; Claude Larose was put back with Danny O&rsquo;Shea and Danny Grant after his groin pull healed and immediately responded with two goals and two assists &hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03471/2894179-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="247" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wavne Hillman</figcaption></div>The crowd of 12,215 which braved miserable weather conditions to watch the Stars&rsquo; televised 3-2 win over L.A. Jan. 25 pushed season home attendance to 297.348 for 24 dates &hellip; That&rsquo;s an average of 12.389 &mdash; second only to St. Louis in the West &mdash; and still more than 1.200 per date ahead of last season&rsquo;s gate gait &hellip; I&rsquo;he win was only the sixth on home ice as compared to 16 losses and two ties. &#9632;

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Hillman May Be Expendable After Stars Acquire Boivin

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn. &mdash;&ldquo;He comes to play.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s an of used description of the professional athlete who gives it everything he&rsquo;s got for every minute he wears a uniform.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01709/2894148-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="246" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Cullen</figcaption></div>It perfectly fits Ray Cullen, who gets more out of his talent than perhaps any of his Minnesota North Star teammates.To give you an idea how much this likeable 27-year-old centerman wants to succeed, we must go back to Christmas night when St. Louis invaded the Sports Center in nearby Bloomington.Cully was playing his usual ever-hustling game between wingers Wayne Connelly and J.P. Parise when he took a wicked whack on the right ankle that forced him fo the bench.What turned out to be a hairline fracture &mdash; discovered by X-rays taken the next day in Los Angeles &mdash; was shaken off temporarily and Ray skated a shift in each of the second and third periods only to find out he couldn&rsquo;t go with the usual zip.&ldquo;I was hoping it was only a sprain or something.&rdquo; recalled Cullen a few days later as he pounded out five miles on the club&rsquo;s exer-cvcle, &ldquo;but somehow when we boarded that plane (after the St. Louis tilt) for L.A., I knew it would be worse than that.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same ankle I broke last season, but this break is a little lower. AH I can do to stay in half-way decent shape is ride this bike and hope it won&rsquo;t take too long to get my timing back.&rdquo;Ray&rsquo;s diligence, friends, has paid off. How? To the tune of two goals and four assists in his first six games back following a nine-game playoff.And this excellent comeback has had a lot to do with snapping the North Stars&rsquo; 14-game winless streak with consecutive victories over Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.At this writing. Ray was averaging better than a point per game and his 1&rsquo;2 goals and 29 assists had him high among the leading scorers in the NHL&rsquo;s West Division.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt about it,&rdquo; said Wren Blair, who piloted the Stars to two victories and a 4-3 loss at Boston after resuming coaching duties, &ldquo;that Cullen is one of the hardest-working players in the league.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02625/2894141-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1160" height="1517"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey fans, STUART POWERS, center, and TOM WENDEL, both 14, get some tips from North Stars&rsquo; center ANDRE BOUDRIAS. A sharp contrast in height, Tom, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo; , towers above both Boudrias at 5&rsquo;7-&frac12;&rdquo; and Stuart, just 4&rsquo;3&rdquo; tall. While the boys are the same age, there is more than a foot difference in their height. Suffering from a pituitary deficiency, Stuart is part of a nation-wide control group being used in the study of the causes and cures of hypopituitary dwarfism. Supported by Human Growth, Inc., the study will hopefully benefit the more than 25,000 dwarfed children in the United States.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Ray is not an exceptionally fast skater, so he has to make up for this with hustle and cleverness and he has plenty of both.&ldquo;Just because he&rsquo;s our leading scorer doesn&rsquo;t mean that he shirks his defensive responsibilities, either. He fore checks very well and in a way. I think this is one of the reasons why his point total is where it is.&ldquo;He does a great job of anticipating what an opposing centerman&rsquo;s going to do. and this allows him to come up with more than the average amount of stolen passes.&rdquo;Cullen, in addition to being one of the Stars&rsquo; sparkplugs, is also the club&rsquo;s player association representative and. according to his teammates, does an excellent job of keeping them informed.During those nine games that Ray was sidelined, the Minnesotans tied only two and lost seven, and this undoubtedly was one of the worst breaks that dismissed John Muckier had in his 77day, 35-game stay as bench boss.To prevent Ray from having more trouble with his right ankle, Blair asked St. Paul shoeman Henry Michalske if he could devise some sort of protective shield for Cully.Michalske, who manufactures leather toe-plates used by many American League baseball pitchers, said he would try.With the help of assistant trainer Al (Doc) Schuneman. Henry came up with a beauty constructed of plastic. Attached to Cullen&rsquo;s boot and extending some five to six inches beyond the normal protected area, the device drew this comment from Ray:&ldquo;It feels just great. Yes, I would say it gives me some extra peace of mind. It doesn&rsquo;t hamper my skating a bit&hellip; and it has already held up to some pretty good whacks both from sticks and flying pucks.&rdquo;Said Blair, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re lucky to have a guy like Henry right in our own back vard.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Cullen Goes All Out On Ice, Stars Could Use More Of ‘Em

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01786/2894217-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Fordomaniaques seen during the commercial breaks on Hockey Night in Canada&rsquo; telecasts each received the keys to EAN HAWKINS, left, Ford&rsquo;s Quebec Region Manager and his assistant GUY ST. JEAN, right. Seen here from left to right are DENIS FORCIER, PATSY GALLANT JEAN PHILIPPE CHRISTYNE CHARTRAND and YVES LAPIERRE. The presentation took place, appropriately enough, at center ice in Montreals newly decorated i-orum, were all hockey&rsquo;s greats invariably meet. RAI SENIOR, president of J. Walter Thompson Company Limited, Ford of Canada&rsquo;s advertising agency in Montreal, is also shown in background with talented group.</figcaption></div>BOSTON, Mass. &mdash;Six weeks ago when Eddie Johnston shut off the light at night he wondered if he&rsquo;d ever see the dawn.Today John stonmay still wonder the same thing but not for the same reason.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02642/2894210-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="237" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Johnston</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Who knows what the next day will bring any time,&rdquo; says the veteran Bruins&rsquo;goalie.&ldquo;But about six weeks ago there was much more to it than that.&rdquo;Johnston was still in the process of recovering from a head injury suffered on Oct. 31 during pre-game practice in Detroit.He was sent to the hospital for several days for observation, released and flew back to Boston.Teammate Teddy Green met Eddie at the airport took one look at him and immediately rushed him to the Mass. General Hospital&rsquo;s Baker Memorial division.&ldquo;It was a stroke of something or other,&rdquo; says Johnston now. &ldquo;If Teddy hadn&rsquo;t been there to meet me, who knows what might have happened.&rdquo;What actually did happen is that Johnston was hospitalized for nearly a month because of a severe concussion.&ldquo;It seems,&rdquo; he explains, &ldquo;that the blow on my head had shifted my brain by a matter of an&rsquo;inch and a half.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t remember really too much about what went on. I don&rsquo;t know that there was a lot of discussion whether there should be an operation to correct things.&ldquo;There was one doctor who insisted an operation should be only a last resort.&rdquo;This was Dr. Robert Ojemann.The reluctance to submit Johnston to surgery was because of his occupation as a hockey player.&ldquo;I later learned that 99 of 100 doctors would have operated immediately,&rdquo; says Eddie.&ldquo;But the one doctor felt there was a good chance nature would take care of the situation.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nature is a wonderful thing. That&rsquo;s about all I have to say right now.&rdquo;Deep down Johnston feels many other things about this experience, especially since he now is back in the nets and is virtually back to the proficiency he was displaying before his injury &mdash; I lost a great deal of weight,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;when I was released from the hospital I was weak.&ldquo;I had trouble regaining my strength. But that came back and so have my reflexes.&rdquo;As Eddie points out the regained strength and the return of the reflexes didn&rsquo;t come overnight.He was worked back into uniform slowly. First he skated for two weeks. Then he went into the nets for a few minutes of practice time.He finally played a full scrimmage.He played his first game after the injury on Jan. 4.The result was 2-2 against Minnesota.&ldquo;Eddie played well,&rdquo; said Coach Harry Sinden. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think he is ready quite yet to face East Division teams.&rdquo;&ldquo;He can p1ay against Pittsburgh and was a winner, 84.Finally on Jan. 23 Sinden elected to put him back against the east and it so happened this was against Detroit in the Olympia where he suffered his injury.Johnston came through with a 2-2 tie and two night&rsquo;s later he turned back Minnesota at the Garden 4-3 to help the Bruins extend their string of undefeated games to 14 and boost their division lead to seven points over Montreal.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done it,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;Eddie is back all the way. He has no doubts about himself and I have no doubts about him.&ldquo;WHe can play against anyone and I&rsquo;m going to play him against anyone. We&rsquo;ll be alternating goalies from now on. We have two of the best. Gerry Cheevers held the fort while Eddie was hurt and did a great job.&ldquo;Now we can keep the two of them active and sharp.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Johnston’s Recovery And Return To Action Seen Remarkable

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01737/2894248-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div>LOS ANGELES, Calif.&mdash;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; officials are still speaking about finishing first in the West, but the players are talking about finishing second &hellip; Players often are more realistically honest than officials &hellip; If the Kings do not take hold on the road, they may have trouble making the playoffs. They have won only three of 24 games 6n the road, and in their last road game, in Chicago, surrendered nine goals, equalling their all-time high. They do not play with confidence and pride away from home.The club does have two major candidates for individual honors this season. Bill White should be a first-team all-star on defense, but won&rsquo;t be. Gerry Desjardins should be &ldquo;rookie of the year&rdquo; and may be &hellip; Eddie Joyal, Bill Flett, Howie Hughes and Dale Rolfe also have established themselves as big-leaguers this season. However, only two of Flett&rsquo;s 15 goals have come on the road.Real &ldquo;Frenchy&rdquo; Lemieux is one of the most unselfish players in hockey &hellip; How many players in NHL history were played regularly in 25 straight games without a goal? Andy Bathgate was one. This season, Ted Irvine of the Kings became another. He&rsquo;s one player who may have been hurt be expansion. He was brought up too soon. He has fine potential, but he would have benefitted from more gradual development. However, he&rsquo;s a sensitive youngster and the club was afraid of breaking his spirit.The Kings are about the same as last season. They have improved their defense, but their offense has fallen off. Basically, their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies have stood pat &hellip; They need better shooters and more hitters. They kill penalties well, but have no power play. However, they have many good nights in which they look great, which make some think they are better than their record.Owner Jack Kent Cooke was right for feeling the Kings should have protested when a shot by Flett in a scoreless tie with St.Louis was not a goal. But some did not think it was a goal, some did not see it and those on the bench were in no position to protest so he should and perhaps has reconsidered the $100 fines against each man. These have not vet been deducted from any paychecks. Nor can we believe rumors goal-judge Kenny Watson will lose his position as a result. Frankly, we felt it was a goal. But we also feel Kenny is a fine, fair workman.We loved a recent line by Charlev Maher of the L.A. Times.Mrs. Red Kelly wrote him to deny rumors Red would depart L.A. to return as coach in Toronto, for her sake or for any other reason. Wrote Andra: &ldquo;I predict that Red will stay in L.A. until the Kings win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo; Wrote Maher: &ldquo;Those who know the Kellys will welcome the news that they&rsquo;re going to be here the rest of their lives.&rdquo;Down Beat Magazine&rsquo;s fine jazz writer, Ira Gitler, who is a longtime New York hockey buff, an amateur player and coach, and recently had published by Grossett & Dunlap an excellent instructional book, &ldquo;Make The Team In Ice Hockey,&rdquo; visited L.A. and brought a great sax man, Sonny Criss, to his first game: &ldquo;It swings. It has beautiful tempo,&rdquo; said Criss. Which was just the right thing for him to say.L.A. is still far from a big-league hockey town. The Times, biggest newspaper in town, seldom sends a man on the road with the team. And Channel Five, the team&rsquo;s TV outlet in town, buried the recent All-Star game, showcase of the sport, with a delayed tape showing at 11 p.m., six hours after the game began. It ended at 1:30 a.m. in L.A., when its audience was asleep.The King&rsquo;s lose their radio outlet, KNX&rsquo; next season and will have to find a new one &hellip; Teams using TV to build up fan interest and broaden their base of support should sacrifice a little immediate gate and televise some home games as well as road games. One wonders how much of a help exposure to televised losses is? And road games are usually losses. The Kings had only two victories in their first 12 telecasts this season.Color-man Ed Fitkin should be warned that the nose-bleed suffered by play-by-play announcer jiggs McDonald during a recent broadcast may have been a punishment for undue optimism while the Kings are being routed. One is reminded of the old motto: &ldquo;If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you may not understand the gravity of the situation.&rdquo;While Jon Washington, publicity director Don Fraser&rsquo;s hockey arm, was bedded with flu, the Kings went winless in six games. Now they know who their most valuable man is. He&rsquo;s doing a superb job with statistics and everything else for the writers. &#9632;

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SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE L.A. KINGS

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01772/2894286-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="332" height="413"></div><h2>Francis Admits Rangers Need Depth</h2>&bull; IN MINNESOTA, John Muckier, a good guy and a good coach and manager Wren Blair&rsquo;s personal choice to succeed him as coach of the North Stars, was fired and replaced by Blair after less than half a season as an NHL mentor. In Los Angeles, Bernie Geoffrion, under fire in his first season as coach of the New York Rangers, said, &ldquo;I feel fine. If this coaching ever starts to bother my health, I&rsquo;ll get out of it. I don&rsquo;t have enough stomach left to allow them to do any more cutting.&rdquo; In Oakland, three nights later, Geoffrion collapsed and had to be hospitalized. Shortly thereafter, a recovering, tearful Geoffrion attended a press conference at which manager Emile Francis announced that he would resume as coach for, at least, three weeks.Earlier, in L.A., we had spoken to &ldquo;The Cat,&rdquo; as Francis is called. He is a tiny, inspirational leader who played pro for 12 teams over 14 years, has been manager of the Rangers since 1964 and coached the club three vears until he turned the reins over to Geoffrion this season. He is a fine, honest person, well liked by everyone. He stood in the press room of the Forum, arms folded across his chest, rocking back and forth gently on his heels, and he talked about the troubles the Rangers have been having this season:&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some injuries that have hurt. We lost Orland Kurtenbach, who was a big man for us, a solid man, a hitter. And we lost Rod Gilbert for a while, and he&rsquo;s the key to our offense and he&rsquo;s still not physically able to play the way he can when he&rsquo;s right. You miss men like this. But. I&rsquo;ll tell you the truth, all the building w&rsquo;e&rsquo;ve been doing on the Rangers the last couple of seasons has been mainly to get the kind of depth you need to offset injuries, and I guess we just haven&rsquo;t got the job done yet. You have to expect injuries. They always say they tell you to go out and skate like heck and check like heck, but don&rsquo;t rip your uniform, and you can&rsquo;t do it. you can&rsquo;t do what you&rsquo;ve got to do without taking risks. If you&rsquo;re playing aggressive, all-out hockey you&rsquo;re going to get some men hurt and that&rsquo;s all there is to it. If you get through a season without any real injuries, you probably haven&rsquo;t been playing the game the way it should be played.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02682/2894279-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="505" height="869"><figcaption class="caption-body">EMILE FRANCIS&hellip; We&rsquo;ll Make Playoffs</figcaption></div>He made a face and said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re disappointed, sure. We contended for the pennant last season and we figured we had a pennant-contender this season and we haven t been that vet. The way it looks now, we&rsquo;ll have to scratch to make the playoffs. But we&rsquo;ll make it, I think. We mav even make a run for the pennant yet. We re not too far out.In New York, the fans had been on &ldquo;Boom Boom&rdquo; because he had not got the club to playing the way Francis had it playing the last couple of years. They went a long time without a winner, without even a competitive team in New York, and they are not now about to accept gracefully any sudden slide back. Geoffrion&rsquo;s lips w&rsquo;ere drawn into thin lines and he jerked about like a hood being shadowed by the cops. He is a shrewd, experienced man and an intense competitor and you could see he heard the footsteps behind him.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all on the spot,&rdquo; Francis said then. &ldquo;Me as much as him. It&rsquo;s true. ves. general managers don&rsquo;t get fired as often as coaches, but they do get fired. It doesn&rsquo;t matter. You don&rsquo;t manage or coach to keep your job, you do it to win. If you win. usually, you 11 keep your job.&rdquo; he smiled. He said &ldquo;usually,&rdquo; because everyone has to hedge now since a winner, George Allen, was fired as coach of the football Rams. Allen was rehired, but not before winners every where were wondering what was left for them to do. Marry the owner&rsquo;s daughter? Buy the ball club? If winning isn&rsquo;t enough, what is?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough for me,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;In fact, there never seems to be enough of it. Mainlv we want to win for ourselves. It&rsquo;s what we do. It&rsquo;s our job. It s the responsi nlity we&rsquo;ve accepted. If we can&rsquo;t do it. then we know we&rsquo;ve got to move out and let someone else try. It&rsquo;s not impossible, vou know. It&rsquo;s never impossible. 1 he victories are out there. Somebodv&rsquo;s getting them. Someone wins every year. Everyone has to answer to someone. The plavers have to answer to the coach. The coach has to answer to the manager. I he manager has to answer to the owner. The owner has to answer to the fans. But. tasica y, evervone has to answer to himself.<h2>Ducking Pucks Easier Than Coaching</h2>&bull; &ldquo;I&rsquo;D NEVER step in-between the coach and his club. There are no two men in the world who see things exactly alike or do things exactly alike. Geoffrion doesn&rsquo;t see things exactly as I do and he doesn&rsquo;t do things exactly as I would, but from the time you hire a coach, as long as he&rsquo;s the coach, you&rsquo;ve got to give him everything he asks, back him up. let him do his job in his way. If you don&rsquo;t, then you can&rsquo;t blame him for any failure,&rdquo; concluded Francis.He lit a cigarette and grew wistful..&rdquo; I miss coaching.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Managing, you have the same pressures, but you&rsquo;re further removed, from the action and you can&rsquo;t do as much about winning and losing from game to game. But I don&rsquo;t miss coaching like I miss playing. When you quit playing, that has to be the touhest decision of any athlete&rsquo;s lite. He wouldn&rsquo;t be playing if he didn&rsquo;t like it.&ldquo;You see guvs like George Armstrong this year and I ed Lindsay and other over the years they quit and then thev kick themselves in the behinds and they miss it so much thev want&rsquo;to come back. But it&rsquo;s hard to quit and then try to come back. Players come to me saying they could do this or that, they might quit. 1 tell them. look, you only play once, so don&rsquo;t let it go unless you&rsquo;re sure you&rsquo;ve had it. I had so many injuries, I had to quit, but I&rsquo;m sorrv about it. I wish I was still playing, ducking pucks, instead of managing. Ducking pucks is a breeze compared to managing and coaching. &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04398/2894324-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03562/2894331-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="197" height="200"></div>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)<h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2><h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05310/2894317-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="1126" height="261"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Jan. 29Miripesota 0 at Montreal 4Toronto 1 at Los Angeles 3Detroit 0 at New York 2Boston 3 at Oakland 3St. Louis 2 at Pittsburgh 1Thurs. Jan. 30New York 4 at St. Louis 3Boston 7 at Los Angeles 5Chicago 12 at Philadelphia 0Fri. Jan. 31Toronto 4 at Oakland 5Sat. Feb. 1New York 2 at Montreal 6St. Louis 2 at Detroit 0Chicago 5 at Minnesota 5Philadelphia 2 at Pittsburgh 2Ookland 5 at Los Angeles 8Sun. Feb. 2Montreal 6 at Chicago 4Toronto 3 at St. Louis 5Pittsburgh 3 at New York 7Detroit 2 at Boston 4Minnesota 3 at Philadelphia 2GAMES TO COMETues. Feb. 4Detroit at Philadelphia St. Louisat Los AngelesWed. Feb. 5Montreal at OaklandMinnesota at TorontoBoston at ChicagoThurs. Feb. 6Montreal at Los AngelesBoston at St. LouisChicago at DetroitSat. Feb. 8Montreal at MinnesotaOakland at TorontoSt. Louis at New York.(afternoon)Philadelphia at BostonLos Angeles at PittsburghSun. Feb. 9Montreal at St. LouisToronto at ChicagoPhiladelphia at New YorkOakland at BostonLos Angeles at Detroit(afternoon)Pittsburgh at Minnesota(afternoon) &#9632;

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THE NHL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>St. LOUIS. Mo.&mdash;George (Punch) Imlach, the Loquacious general manager and coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has accused the owners of the St. Louis Blues of being guilty of lavish treatment of their plavers. Punch suggests that the open-handed policy of the Blues owners borders on being immoral, if not downright against the code of ethics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01751/2894369-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="260" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sid Salomon III</figcaption></div>Says Toronto&rsquo;s man with the constant fedora:&ldquo;Those Blues keep getting and getting. They get so much in the way of bonuses and other side benefits that the rest of the players in the league are on the verge of staging a protest march because they are not included in the loot.&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; says Punch, &ldquo;that when a plaver with the Blues gets the hat trick (three goals in a game) the management gives him a $750.00 watch. And I hear that if somebody scores the winning goal on the Blues he gets a luxury cruise on the Riviera.&rdquo;Punch told St. Louis hockey scribe Wally Cross recently that he thought the Blues were doing a disservice to the game by being so generous with their players.Sid Salomon, 111, executive vice-president of the Blues, snorted in disdain at Imlach&rsquo;s remarks, declaring that it was not really any of Imlach&rsquo;s business how the Blues treated their hockey players.The Salomon&rsquo;s are highly successful insurance brokers in St. Louis and Sid 111 said that their policy is to reward their hockey players in the same way they reward their employes in the insurance business when they deserve it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just good business,&rdquo; said Sid, 111.Of course, Imlach&rsquo;s criticism of the good treatment of the Blues is somewhat as inconsistent as Abraham Lincoln knocking the improved conditions of slaves.It was Imlach who back in 1958 pulled an Abe Lincoln act in Springfield, Mass, where he moved in on the operation run by tyrannical Eddie Shore and freed the poor hockey players from bondage.Shore had suffered a serious heart attack and was compelled by his health to make a deal for an affiliation with the Boston Bruins. The deal with Boston included the naming of Imlach as general manager of the Springfield Indians.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02688/2894362-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="2412" height="1269"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis Blues&rsquo; tough defenseman BOB PLAGER, recovering from knee surgery, gives some hockey tips to some young Blues. (From left) BILLY McCREARY, SID SALOMON, IV; DEAN PATRICK, DAVID McDONALD, LEW GORDON, II, son of the Blues&rsquo; photographer; MICHAEL TALBOT, DANNY TALBOT and JAY ARBOUR. Their dads, of course, are Billy McCreary, Sid Salomon, III, executive vice-president; Lynn Patrick, managing director; Ab McDonald, Jean Guy Talbot and Al Arbour, the Blues&rsquo; captain. ((Photo By Lew Gordon))</figcaption></div>With the departure of the tight-fisted Shore from active operation of the Indians, the players were quick to respond to treatment of Imlach who quickly eased the strict curfew, tossed out the edict of no beverages other than soda pop, restored the use of taxi cabs instead of walking from practice to hotels or home.So Punch Imlach, who freed the players at Springfield, Mass, that year of 1958, saw his farmhands respond to their freedom bv romping joyously into the playoffs after dead last finishes the previous two seasons. Punch should know only too well the benefits that can be derived from a happy hockey team.His rap at the Salomons for showering the Blues with lavish rewards is, of course, designed to stir a controversy and Punch is a master of the technique.Of course, Punch doesn&rsquo;t know the half of it &mdash; and it&rsquo;s even doubtful that those closest to the club owners know it all about how the Blues are treated in royal fashion.Most folks are aware of the allexpense two week vacation with families at a plush Miami Beach hotel owned by the Salomon&rsquo;s. That came about after the end of the playoffs last season. There&rsquo;s another on tap at the close of this season. The carpeted, wall-to-wall comforts of the dressing rooms include the saunas and the color television. There is a recreation card and billiard room with color television for players and when it became known that Jacques Plante liked to play ping pong, there appeared a ping pong table within a matter of hours. Most recently the Salomon&rsquo;s have added a family lounge for the players&rsquo; wives and children so that when they come to the game with their husbands they will have a comfortable place to relax until game time.It&rsquo;s all part of the master plan of the Blues&rsquo; management and the keenly-attuned promotional minds of the Salomons.The master plan at St. Louis is basically simple. Get the best performers in the game who are obtainable and make them so happy about their association that they will go to the limit to stay where they are.Apparently the watches, the sauna baths, the wall-to-wall carpeting and the Florida vacations have been an excellent investment for the Salomons and the keeper of the exchequer, Robert Wolfson. The Blues pulled off impossible achievements last season to battle into the Stanley Cup playoff finals and ring up a big plus at the turnstiles. And this time around they are tearing up the Western Division on the ice and keeping the turnstiles whirling at a better than 14,000 per game average.Not bad for openers, eh Punch? &#9632;

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But Salomons Get Results On Ice From Blues

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01768/2894400-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="547" height="528"></div> &#9632;

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Beliveau Passes 450-Goal Plateau

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Spotty goaltending &mdash; the cloud that hovered over the Can-adiens if or the past two months may have a silver lining after all. And the ray of hope stems from the fellow who launched the cloud in the first place, veteran Lome (Gump) Worsley who suddenly has shown some of his old Vezina Trophy form.The Gumper broke into the Montreal lineup again for his first game in over three weeks with a 6-3 victory over Philadelphia. He followed that up with a sensational effort at New York, despite a 3-2 loss, then a 4-0 shutout over Minnesota at the Forum.His return to stardom came almost as abruptly as when he bolted the club on a flight to the West Coast last November, then needed six weeks rest for shattered nerves before donning the big pads again. Shortly after that, he wound up in the club doghouse through a practice tiff with Coach Claude Ruel.Things started happening for Worsley&rsquo; just before Philadelphia visit to Montreal, Jan. 25. He had been told to be ready as backup man to Rogatien Vachon and wound up working an hour the morning of the game stopping shots from the Junior Canadiens. Just before going to the dressing room, Ruel asked Gump and-got an affirmative that he was ready to start against the Flyers.&ldquo;I was shook up because I had no idea about starting that game,&rdquo; said Worsley. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s better not to know if you&rsquo;re playing. It saved me a lot of worrying the rest of the day.&rdquo;The Gumper played just well enough for 24 saves, giving up three goals as the Flyers broke their shutout famine in three previous games with the Canadiens. Observers were divided about his play, many claiming that he had been fighting the puck.&ldquo;I guess I was fighting the puck, I was pretty nervous,&rdquo; admitted the 39-year-old goalie about only his second game in two months.Worsley was a different man the next night at Madison Square Garden and it was evident from the Rangers&rsquo; first shot on goal that he would be sharp.&ldquo;Gump is really up, we&rsquo;re going to be alright,&rdquo; said Henri Richard in the press-box, sitting out the game due to a twisted knee the previous game. &#9632;

Hubs’ Goaling Problems May Be Solved As Worsley’s Starry Return Raises Hopes

OTTAWA, Ont.&mdash;A growing controversy is raging in various parts of Canada these days as to the value of that country&rsquo;s National Hockey Team program.The matter came to loggerheads last week when the Russian National squad completed a convincing nine-game sweep of the Canadian team in a controversial a tour of Canada that provoked leading hockey figures to voice their displeasure.&ldquo;Canada&rsquo;s National team should be scrapped&rdquo; asserted onetime Toronto Maple Leafs magnate Conn Smythe, speaking at a sports celebrities dinner in Toronto last week.&ldquo;The job of raising a team to represent Canada should be handed over to Stafford Smythe (Conn&rsquo;s son, top ranking Toronto Maple Leafs official) and David Molson (president of the Montreal Canadiens)&rdquo; fumed Smythe.&ldquo;We have good young boys on ourNational team, but they&rsquo;re up against men,&rdquo; Smythe explained. &ldquo;In no sport can you send a bunch of bovs out to fight men. The Canadian team should be disbanded as it stands now.Smythe said he was confident his son and Molson could get together to build a strong team possibly an all-star aggreagation to return Canada to the position of glory it once knew in international hockey.Jack (Red) Bownass, coach of Canada&rsquo;s Eastern National crew, disagreed with Smythe despite the string of nine losses in a row suffered to the Russians.&ldquo;Where would he get the plavers?&rdquo; Queried Bownass, who went on to point out that Smythe (Staff) had turned down requests from the National team to furnish stiffer competition for the Club (namely the Toronto Maple Leafs) in order to help Canada sharpen up for the upcoming world to urnament.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s not be disheartened by our lack of success against the Russians in this series,&rdquo; said Bownass. He pointed out that the Canadian public failed to realize that all of the yong players on both the East and West National teams were given ample chance to see action against the Russians. The Canadian lineup did not consist of only the best talent available, because these were only exhibition games.Bownass firmly believes that the Russians would give NHL clubs a rough time of it, too.&ldquo;Those guys (the NHL) have been saying for so long how good they are that they&rsquo;re beginning to believe it themselves,&rdquo; said Bownass. &ldquo;I realize you have to stand behind your own product, but you can&rsquo;t know how good the Russians are unless you&rsquo;ve actually played them yourself.&rdquo; &#9632;

Scrapping National Team Spikes New Controversy

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01759/2894559-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 2)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02699/2894552-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="621" height="2237"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03587/2894545-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="592" height="114"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04496/2894538-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="625" height="2517"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING RACE

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05416/2894590-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERNIE PARENT &hellip; Headed For Top NHL Billing</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA, Pa. &mdash;He&rsquo;s not Mandrake the Magician but Bernie Parent did change Montreal Forum from a nice place to visit to a lousy place to live.It all happened the week of the NHL All-Star Game when, in the span of four nights, Bernie was one of the goalies for the Western Division All-Stars before returning to the Forum as net minder for his own Flyers.Against the big guns of the Eastern division in the All-Star Game, Parent was unbeatable in goal. He played the second period against them and was the only one of five goalies in the game who didn&rsquo;t give up a score. It helped the underdog West earn a 3-3 deadlock.After starring in a 2-2 tie at Chicago against the Black Hawks two nights later, Bernie was back in the net at the Forum against the Canadiens. This time, though, he was bombarded for six goals in a 6-3 setback.&ldquo;You win some and you lose some,&rdquo; reasoned Bernie, after the loss. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s hockey. Some nights you have it and some nights you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Yvan Cournoyer scored the three-goal hat trick which helped the Canadiens pull out the victory. One score came in the three-goal third period as the Canadiens broke a 3-3 tie.The three-goal outburst &mdash; goals also scored by Claude Provost and J. C. Tremblay &mdash; made Parent&rsquo;s performance in the All-Star Game look like night and day.In the All-Star Game, Bernie turned aside all 10 shots on goal while becoming only the third player in history to own a goals-against average of 0:00.&ldquo;Sugar&rdquo; Jim Henry of Boston and Garry Bauman of Montreal (now Minnesota) are the only other goalies who have never been scored upon in All-Star competition. Same as Parent, they had only seen limited action but they own shutouts nonetheless.Immediately after Parent&rsquo;s performance in the All-Star Game rumors persisted that the Canadiens were willing to deal off three of the players currently on their roster in order to get Parent.Flyers&rsquo; GM Bud Poile reportedly refused to discuss trading his 23-year-old goaltender who is a native of Montreal.It was felt in some circles that such a trade would assure a second-place finish for the Flyers in the Western Division this season, while guaranteeing the Canadiens first-place in the East and a good shot at defending the Stanley Cup.The situation looked differently four nights later, however, when the Flyers invaded the Forum for their fifth game of the season against t he Canadiens.True, the defense didn&rsquo;t play well in front of Parent but the six goals given up didn&rsquo;t look good in any event. It was the most goals scored against him since he was beaten, 7-1, in Boston earlier in the season.Against the Canadiens in this one, Bernie was pelted with 41 shots. It was the 12th time in 29 games this season that the opposition had taken 40 or more shots against him.It means, on the average, Bernie is facing more shots than any other goalie in the NHL.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s still the best young goaltender &lsquo;irf the NHL.&rdquo; said Scotty Bowman of the St. Louis Blues who coached the Western Division All-Stars. &ldquo;And when Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall retire, Bernie will be the best in the game.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Parent’s All-Star Game Play Boosts Goaler’s NHL Stock

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div>&ldquo;you like 7up 7up likes you&mdash;&ldquo;you like 7up 7up likes you&mdash;TORONTO. Ont &mdash;Togetherness. Esprit de corps. A brisk, determined team feeling. Those are the things which make Toronto Maple Leafs a stronger club this season, a vast improvement over the unit which finished fifth in the National Hockey League last winter and therefore missed out on the Stanley Cup playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01738/2894621-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="271" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Armstrong</figcaption></div>An illustration was provided recently when Leafs were forced out of their own rink at Maple Leaf Gardens during the Ice Follies run and had to practice at Tam O&rsquo;Shanter, a suburban arena.Workouts are informal there. The players show up in sports clothes and are inclined to hang around the coffee shop, afterwards, instead of hurrying away to keep appointments in downtown 1 oronto. But one thing was noticeable this time. Instead of huddling in tiny groups, as before, they rearranged tables and sat in one huge circle.There was a lot of noise and laughter and manager coach Punch Imlach drew the attention of newsmen present to this phenomenon. It illustrated how Leafs have changed, even though most of the same people are back this season.The 1967-68 team lacked any sense of purpose and was split up into discontented factions. This showed up in Leafs&rsquo; inability to win games away from home and in the number of times they led. then fell behind.What caused the change?You can trace it back to the showdown in late November between Imlach and club, president Stafford Smythe. Out of it. Imlach emerged with a clear mandate to run the hockey team without interference. Smvthe is still president and his word would be law if he decided to have his own way. But Imlach authority is now iuh.v defined. He is Leafs&rsquo; boss and the only way Smythe and the other directors can interfere is to fire him.The front office wanted Imlach to bring in a coach and confine himself to managerial chores. This he refused to do and there no longer is any pressure for him to do that or anything else except what he personally decides is best for Leafs.Once all this was determined, the players apparently reached this decision: there weren&rsquo;t going to be any changes in leadership so they might just as well dig in and get the job done. Imlach was going to be in charge for as long as they cared to look ahead.About this same time. George Armstrong ended a brief retirement and rejoined Leafs as their captain. That made a difference, too.And in addition, there is no underestimating what an infusion of youth has meant to Leaf&rsquo;s this year. 1 here are a few youngsters on the roster who are striving to win their first important money. Moreover, these lads such as defenseman Jim Durey are scrappers.Their eagerness has kindled a fire under some of the older hands who were beginning to rest on their oars, just a bit.And finally, you must consider what an improvement was brought about by the deal Imlach negotiated with Detroit Red Wings late last season.You cannot deny that Frank Mahovlich has played extremely well for Detroit Red Wings since going there. So have Pete Stemkowski and Garry I&rsquo;nger. But the forward line Leafs acquired in exchange has changed the whole Toronto picture. Norm I&rsquo;llman is the kind of driving, forechecking centre Imlach teams must have. Paul Henderson is a smoothie on left wing and right-winger Flovd Smith is both a capable journeyman and an accurate scorer. &#9632;

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Leafs’ New ‘Togetherness’ Image Changes Club Into NHL Contender

There have been many rewarding weeks in the spectacular NHL career of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; superstar Jean Beliveau, but perhaps none quite so heartwarming to Montreal fans as performance last week.Beliveau set up two goals Jas Montreal broke out of a home ice jinx with a 4-0 triumph over Minnesota North Stars. He then notched the 450th of his career (third only to Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard) as the Canucks whipped New York Rangers 6-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02640/2894652-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="265" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Beliveau</figcaption></div>But his best effort was yet to come. Before a national television audience Sunday afternoon, Beliveau played one of his best games in recent years. He riddled Chicago goalie Dennis DeJordy for a sensational hat-trick as Montreal came from behind to pull out a 6-4 victory.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the East:Jean Beliveau&hellip;Montreal &#9632;

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NHL Player Of The Week

Dismal last-place finishers a year ago, Oakland Seals suddenly find themselves in the rarified atmosphere of second place in the Western Division.There are undoubtedly many reasons for the marked improvement in the Seals&rsquo; play, not the least of which is the inspired production of rookie Norm Ferguson.Last week Fergie set up what proved to be the tieing goal as the Seals held the Eastern Division leaders, Boston Bruins, to a 3-3 saw-off. Two nights later his unassisted tally with less than three minutes to play gave Oakland a well-earned 5-4 triumph over Toronto Maple Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03507/2894683-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="271" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ferguson</figcaption></div>Fergie capped off his week&rsquo;s outburst with his 20th goal of the campaign Sunday night, but the Seals lapsed defensively and dropped an 8-5 decision to Los Angeles Kings.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-ofthe-week in the West:Norm Ferguson&hellip; Oakland &#9632;

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<h2>MONTREAL</h2>Goal, Vachon, Worsley, Defense, Laperriere, J.C. Tremblay, Harris, Hillman, Savard, Forwards, Beliveau, G. Tremblay Backstrom, Duff, Cournoyer, Provost, Rousseau, Richard, Ferguson, Redmond, Lemaire.<h2>TORONTO</h2>Goal, Gamble, Bower. Defense, Pilote, Prono-vost, Horton, Pelyk, Dorey. Forwards, Ellis, Ullman, Oliver, Keon, Mickey, Walton, F. Smith, Henderson, Pulford, Armstrong, Sutherland.<h2>CHICAGO</h2>Goal, Dryden, Dejordy, Defense Marotte, Young, Reid, Ravlich, Stapleton, Jarrett, Forwards Orban, Martin Pappin, B. Hull, D. Hull, Mohns, Nesterenko, C. Maki, Wharram, Schmautz, Mikita.<h2>NEW YORK</h2>Goal, Giacomin, Simmons, Defense, Hamilton Brown, Park, Neilson, Seiling. Forwards, Gilbert, Nevin, Fleming, Jeffrey Hcdfield, Stewart, Balon, Ratelie, Goyette, Marshall, Tkaczuk.<h2>DETROIT</h2>Goal, Crozier, Edwards, Sawchuk. Defense, Baun, Douglas, Popiel, Bergman, Harris. Forwards, Unger, Howe, Delvecchio, F. Mahovlich, MacGregor, Libett, Hatoum, Stemkowski, Monteith, Prentice.<h2>BOSTON</h2>Goal, Cheevers, Johnston. Defense, Orr, Green, Westfall, Smith, Doak Awrey. Forwards, Esposito, Hodge, Bucyk, Cashman, Sather, Sanderson, Stanfield, McKenzie, Shack, Murphy, Harrison.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>Goal, Parent, Wilson. Defense, Van Impe, Watson, Miszuk, Stanley, Hale, Cherry. Forwards, Lacroix, Rochefort, Selby, Gendron, Domhoefer, Sarrazin, Peters, Blackbum, Johnson, Kennedy, Stankiewicz.<h2>OAKLAND</h2>Goal, Hodge, Smith, Worthy, Defense, Roberts, Vadnais, Lacombe, Mattiussi, Marshall, Odrowski, Forwards, Laughton, Ehman, Hicke, Hampson, Jarrett, Ingarfield, Dillabough, Ferguson, Szurra, Perry, Ubriaco.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>Goal, Binkley, Daley, Defense, Rupp, Legace, Price, McCallum, Woytcwich. Forwards, Angotti, Fonteyne, Bums, Watson, Swarbrick, Schinkel, Dea, Harris, Boyer, Pronovost, McCreary.<h2>ST. LUIS</h2>Goal, Hall, Plante. Defense Arbour, Bob Pla-ger, Roberts, Barclay Plager, Talbot, Picard. Forwards, Berenson, St. Marseille, Schock, Sabourin, Ecclestone, McCreary, Cameron, Keenan, McDonald, Henry.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>Goal, Maniago, Bauman. Defense, W. Hillman, Boivin, Vasko, McCord, Nanne. Forwards, O&rsquo;Shea, Cullen, Parise, Connelly, Boudrias, Johnston, Larose, Collins, Grant, MacDonald, Goldsworthy.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>Goal, Rutledge, Desjardins. Defense, Wall, Amadio, Rolfe, B. Hughes, Cahan, White. Forwards, Campbell, Peters, R. Lemieux, H. Hughes, Irvine, Joyal, Flett, Labossiere, Anderson. &#9632;

NHL TEAM LINEUPS

<h2>WED. JAN. 29</h2>MINNESOTA 0 At MONTREAL 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01726/2894882-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="598" height="457"></div>TORONTO 1 At LOS ANGELES 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02677/2894875-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="596" height="537"></div>DETROIT 0 At NEW YORK 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03628/2894868-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="592" height="465"></div>BOSTON 3 At OAKLAND 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04576/2894861-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="594" height="637"></div>ST. LOUIS 2 At PITTSBURGH 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05473/2894854-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="600" height="507"></div><h2>THURS. JAN. 30</h2>CHICAGO 12 at PHILADELPHIA 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06403/2894847-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="598" height="841"></div>BOSTON 7 at LOS ANGELES 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07373/2894840-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="602" height="187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08350/2894833-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="588" height="777"></div>NEW YORK 4 at ST. LOUIS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09333/2894826-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="600" height="633"></div><h2>FRI. JAN. 31</h2>TORONTO 4 at OAKLAND 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10311/2894819-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="594" height="707"></div><h2>SAT. FEB. 1</h2>CHICAGO 5 at MINNESOTA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11286/2894812-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="596" height="781"></div>ST. LOUIS 2 at DETROIT 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12250/2894805-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="598" height="355"></div>NEW YORK 2 al MONTREAL 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13216/2894798-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="596" height="381"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14183/2894791-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg" title="f0013-14" width="594" height="365"></div>PHILADELPHIA 2 at PITTSBURGH 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15151/2894784-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="602" height="521"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-16109/2894777-1-eng-US/f0013-162.jpg" title="f0013-16" width="594" height="113"></div>OAKLAND 5 at LOS ANGELES 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1788/2894770-1-eng-US/f0013-172.jpg" title="f0013-17" width="588" height="751"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1874/2894763-1-eng-US/f0013-182.jpg" title="f0013-18" width="592" height="211"></div><h2>SUN. FEB. 2</h2>MONTREAL 6 at CHICAGO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1957/2894756-1-eng-US/f0013-192.jpg" title="f0013-19" width="594" height="743"></div>TORONTO 3 at ST. LOUIS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2037/2894749-1-eng-US/f0013-202.jpg" title="f0013-20" width="590" height="707"></div>DETROIT 2 at BOSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2128/2894742-1-eng-US/f0013-212.jpg" title="f0013-21" width="586" height="103"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02630/2894735-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="586" height="545"></div>PITTSBURGH 3 at NEW YORK 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03532/2894728-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="592" height="357"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04414/2894721-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="584" height="439"></div>MINNESOTA 2 at PHILADELPHIA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05312/2894714-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="598" height="581"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

National Hockey League Summaries

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01726/2894951-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="322" height="429"></div>WALTER BUSH, affable president of the Minnesota North Stars, has been in hockey, amateur and pro long enough now to realize that this is a game with more ups and downs than an elevator operator&rsquo;s average day &hellip; But he certainly wasn&rsquo;t prepared for the horrendous happenings to the Minnesota North Stars betwenn Dec. 21, 1968 and Jan. 23, 1969 &hellip; Between those dates the North Stars went 14 games without winning, losing 12 and trying two &hellip; &ldquo;It was simply unbelievable,&rdquo; Walter said, when I talked to him just after the long slump had ended. &ldquo;You expect some sort of a losing streak in a season, but this one was beyond comprehension. Nothing went right. Nothing at all. It seemed like it was going to go on forever&rdquo; . The North Stars, because of ott-season wheeling and dealing, started this 1968-69 season as West Division favorites loaded with a plethora of experienced NHL defensemen, a pair of fine captures from Montreal Canadiens in the persons of Claude Larose and Danny Grant, plus to ranked Canadian and U.S. national team acquisitions to go along with the sprightly hold-overs from the first expansion year &hellip; Somehow the team lacked the gelatin quality the lrcgame winless string created a noose that lifted rookie coach John Muckier out of the picture and brought back Wren Blair in the dual role of GM and coach &hellip; With the colorful and excitable &ldquo;Bird&rdquo; back behind the bench, Minnesota ended the drought by beating Pittsbugh 3-1. in Pittsburgh Jan. 23.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02615/2894944-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="256" height="390"><figcaption class="caption-body">Walter Bush</figcaption></div>HAROLD (BALDY) COTTON, a former NHL star in his vounger davs and a noted scout for the Boston Bruins prior to his retirement as such was lured Back to hockey when expansion came bv his old friend. Wren Blair, who wanted him to cast his expert eve on potential prospects for the Minnesota club &hellip; &ldquo;Things have certainly changed,&rdquo; Baldy was telling us in the fine new press room the North Stars now have in their Metropolitan Sports Center. &ldquo;Nowadays, with 12 teams in the NHL there are so many scouts around, the scouts are scouting the scouts. I can remember 25-30 years ago, when I first started working with Boston, could pretty well tab a player at the start of a season and keep on watching him all that year without worrying about somebody else stealing him from under my nose. There used to be only a tew of us, like Squib Walker for the Leafs, Carson Cooper for Detroit, and Bob Wilson for Chicago and we did it all by ourselves.&rdquo;COTTON, WHO ORIGINALLY PLAYED pro for the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, was a Toronto favorite in the halcyon 1930s of the Kid Line. Day, Clancy, Horner et al. ..Later when his career terminated he became a member of the Hockey Night in Canada intermission crew, along with Elmer Ferguson, Bobby Hewitson and Wes McKnight &hellip; This was in the days of radio onlv, and their gabfests between periods, called the Hot Stove League, became a tradition with hockey fans across . Canada &hellip; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing,&rdquo; Baldy reminisced, &ldquo;being on that show was the greatest thing that helped me as a scout. Everybody knew me by name all over Canada and when I wanted to talk to the parents of a boy I was interested in, all I had to say was &lsquo;I&rsquo;m Baldy Cotton&rsquo; and I got the royal treatment. Other scouts often couldn&rsquo;t get to first base with the parents.&rsquo; His radio endeavors meant he had to be in Toronto for everv Leaf home game, but Art Ross, the Boston GM, didn&rsquo;t mind. &ldquo;Stay on that show,&rdquo; Baldy said Ross told him. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best advertising the Bruins can get. and it doesn&rsquo;t cost a dime.BALDY&rsquo;S OLD SCOUTING PALS, Squib Walker, Carson Cooper and Bob Wilson, have passed on, and so have Wes McKnight and Bobby Hewitson &hellip; But Elmer Ferguson, now in his 80s, is still going strong, still writing a regular column for the Montreal Star and continuing to be one of the, most remarkable sportswriters in Canadian history. Our talk with Cotton which was shared, with L.A. Kings GM, Larry Regan; broadcasters Ken &ldquo;Jiggs&rdquo; McDonald of LA and Al Shaver of Minnesota; and Dick Dillman, the North Stars PR man, touched on many subjects, including crowd reactions. &ldquo;The fans up in the gallery at, New York and Boston Garden were really rough.&rsquo; Cotton, who ended his NHL career with the NY Americans declared. &ldquo;The last year I was there, I hadn&rsquo;t been playing much. One night, as soon as 1 skatea out one guy spots me and yells down: &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t tell me YOURE still around, Cotton.&rsquo; I knew right then that I&rsquo;d had it.&rdquo; &hellip; He was reminded of the story about the Boston fan who took exception to King Clancy&rsquo;s refereeing and roared: &ldquo;Hey, Clancy! We&rsquo;ve got a town down here named after you &mdash; Marblehead!&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03477/2894937-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="274" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Baldy Cotton</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Footloose

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div>CHICAGO, Ill.&mdash;Stan Mikita snared the puck just inside the Black Hawks&rsquo; zone.Spotting Doug Mohns sprinting toward the red line along the left boards, Mikita slid the puck expertly onto the veteran&rsquo;s stick.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04347/2894982-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="255" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Mohns</figcaption></div>Mohns broke into the zone of the Los Angeles Kings, and a glance to his right detected Ken Wharram braaking toward the Kings&rsquo; cage and Goalie Wayne Rutledge.Still in full stride, Mohns flicked his&rsquo; stick and the puck darted across to the ice, where Wharram, also moving at top speed, caught up with it 10 feet away from the Kings&rsquo; net minder, who was struggling to move across his goalmouth.Wharram moved his stick toward the hurtling disk with a short-choppy jab and it slammed into the net untouched.The goal was only one of three Wharram picked up against the Kings that night and One of nine the Hawks scored during a 9-3 rout. But there was something special about it.First, it reminded Hawks fans of what the famed Scooter line of Wharram, Mikita and Mohns used to do with delightful regularity. And second, it raised hopes that the veteran trio just might be ready to start performing its special brand of magic once again.If the latter is true, the resurgence of the Scooters has come just in time to save the Hawks from perhaps missing the Stanley cup playoffs for the first time since the 1957-58 season.As it is, they are certain of a dogfight right down to the final game and many of their problems have stemmed from the fact that the Scooters spent most of the first half of the season belying the nickname hung on them nearly a decade ago.In fact, there have been times when they looked as though they might be more deserving of being called the &ldquo;Walker Line.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was sort of like old times, wasn&rsquo;t it,&rdquo; said Wharram, indicating that he and his long&rsquo; time runningmates need no reminder that they haven&rsquo;t been exactly melting the ice in rinks around the league thus far.&ldquo;We were skating, really moving out there is this one,&rdquo; the 35-vear-old, 11-year veteran added. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the key with us. of course. When we skate we&rsquo;re as good as ever. When we let up, we&rsquo;re just three guys.&rdquo;Coach Billy Reav long has contended that the success of the Hawks is keyed directly to the contribution made each night by Mikita and Co., particularly on home ice.&ldquo;That was the most encouraging part of the game, aside from the final score,&rdquo; said Reay in reference to the triumph, which ended a string of five games without victory. &ldquo;The Mikita line was moving as well as it has all season. That&rsquo;s got to be a good sign.&rdquo; There are excuses for the Scooters&rsquo; slow start, of course. Mikita has suffered from a variety of minor ailments almost from the outset of the season and Mohns missed nearly three weeks because of a broken bone in his left hand.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just reached the point where the injury isn&rsquo;t on my mind during a game,&rdquo; Doug said recently after his fourth game back in action. &ldquo;And for the first time since I started using the hand again, I don&rsquo;t feel any pain.&rdquo;If that&rsquo;s so, some of the paine and anguish Reay and the Chicago fans have been suffering of late might ease up a bit, too. &#9632;

f0014-04

Revived Scooters May Save Hawks From Missing Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK. N.Y. &mdash;In the space of four days, the lackluster New York Rangers made chame-Ion like changeover into hard hitting, tight cheeking demons who made all the big plays and zoomed from last to third place.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01700/2895044-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="268" height="401"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Howell</figcaption></div>First, they defeated Los Angeles 3-1 on January 23, 1969 under the ministrations Emile Francis, the team&rsquo;s interim coach.The key to this game was the pre-game visit of the sick Bernie &ldquo;Boom Boom&rdquo; Geoffrion, who just prior to taking a three week sabbatical for health reasons, came in to the Blueshirts, dressing room and asked the boys to &ldquo;win this game for the Boomer.&rdquo;The Rangers responded with two goals by Rod Gilbert, and a tight checking effort such as had been lacking in previous efforts.Two days later, New York chalked up its third shutout of the season, this time by a 3-0 count with the Chicago Black Hawks as the victims. Eddie Giacomin registered the whitewashings and picked up his third $100 bonus of the campaign. The team registered 39 hits in the special statistics kept by scout Steve Brilacich, who has been rushed into the breach and is filling in for some of the functions previously handled by.Francis.&ldquo;A hit is the physical removal by force of an opponent from the play,&rdquo; says Francis with a glint in his eye. Under Geoffrion, hits were almost as few as base hits with the Mets.The Rangers continued their excellent defensive play in the Chicago game and stopped the Hawks on three straight power plays. This made for a string of 23 straight enemy power plays which the Blues had foiled. Giacomin had only 15 saves to make as New York fired 42 shots at Dennis DeJordy in the Chicago nets. This was a tribute both to the Rangers forwards and to the defensive pairing which show the ever improving Brad Park with Jim Neilson and Rod Seiling with Arnie Brown. Harry Howell, still suffering acutely from muscle spasms in his lower back, missed eight games, the most in his career. All Rangerville was holding their breath until the grand old man of the team returned.On Sunday afternoon January 26, with the third straight sellout crowd of 17,250 in attendance, New York spotted the Montreal Canadiens two goals and came back for a 3-2 win. Vic Hadfield was the hero with two red lights, including the game winner with Jean Beliveau in the penalty box. Jean Ratelle notched the tying Ranger goal.Francis revealed that the team, this time, scored 43 hits and was most proud of the fact that they came from behind.&ldquo;The boys didn&rsquo;t panic when Montreal got off to a two goal lead. Park, in particular played his second great game in a row. He is improving with every game and I am glad to have him on our side. The boys were hitting and you know it is almost impossible to score if you are laying on your back,&rdquo; said Francis.&lsquo;This win puts us in third place, just five points back of Montreal in second and it shows how fast things can change. Four days ago we were in last place,&rdquo; purred the Cat.The play of Park, the baby faced twenty year old who came to training camp, determined to win a spot in New York, has saved the Rangers during the absence of Howell. Francis called Allan Hamilton from Buffalo and even has used him to kill off some penalties. The belief is that he feels that if allowed to play, Hamilton may show the form that once made him comparable to Bobby Orr, back in his Junior days.BLUE CHIPS &mdash; Rangers are working on a five game unbeaten streak, one under Geoffrion on the night of his collapse and the remainder under Francis&hellip; Jean Ratelie has scored at least one point in 13 of his last 14 games&hellip; New York is now first in the NHL East on defense and second to the St. Louis Blues in the entire league&hellip; Prior to the Montreal game, the Rangers had 29 power play goals in 155 attempts and the opposition had 19 in 127 tries&hellip; Vic Hadfield has seven power play goals and Bob Nevin six&hellip; Rod Gilbert&rsquo;s assist vs Chicago on January 25 was the 200th of his NHL career&hellip; Eddie Giacomin has played more games and more minutes than any other netminder in the NHL&hellip; New York is now 8-13-1 against the East and 17-5-3 versus the Expansion West&hellip; Arnie Brown has been hot of late with four straight goals on four straight Saturdays. He had gone 106 NHL games without a goal&hellip; Francis thinks that NHL dogfight will go right down to the wire and he does not count New York out of the race for the top spot&hellip; Giacomin and John Ferguson of the Canadiens still feuding&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06260/2895037-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="560" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARK &hellip; Filled In Brilliantly</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

Rangers Start ‘Hitting’ Again As Club Clicks Under Francis

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE DUFFY</div>ASK YOUR DEALER ABOUT LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS (FORMERLY WALLY) (Hockey sticks distributed in the U.S. through the Hillerich & Bradsby Co.)ASK YOUR DEALER ABOUT LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS (FORMERLY WALLY)(Hockey sticks distributed in the U.S. through the Hillerich & Bradsby Co.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01547/2895075-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="553" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body">MOE MANTHA &hellip; Harder to Report</figcaption></div>PROVIDENCE, R.I.&mdash;Moe Mantha walked into the R.I. Reds&rsquo; dressing room the other day after practice. The squad was peeling off equipment on a day prior to the start of a road trip which called for stops at Buffalo, and Hershey.&ldquo;Fellows,&rdquo; said the rangy defenseman, &ldquo;I have some bad news. There is a terrific blizzard in Western New York. Lou (Lou Pieri, the owner) says we are flying to Utica and will travel the rest of the wav to Buffalo by dog sled.&rdquo; There was an instantaneous roar and this reaction did not surprise. Mantha. Currentlyplaying fine hockey, has become known as the &lsquo;Bob Hope&rsquo; of the Providence hockey club. His humor has contributed greatly to the excellent team spirit as the Reds battle for the Eastern Division championship in the American Hockey League.Few fans thought Mantha was funny early in the season. The veteran backliner, who has been playing hockey almost 19 years, reported to training camp late due to the pressure of his nine hole golf course in Sturgeon Falls, Ont. As a result, Moe was noticeably slow in the early games on the schedule and the bleacherites began to advise Mantha to give up.&ldquo;They were wasting their time,&rdquo; said the likeable Mantha. &ldquo;I wore ear plugs the first month and could not hear a word.&rdquo;Moe became embroiled in the world of ice hockey when he played for the Galt, Ont. Black Hawks at the age of 18. He was a defenseman then and stayed at the same position during stays at Cincinnati, Quebec, Montreal (Royals), Cleveland and San Francisco before arriving here for the 1967-68 season.Mantha, who was born in North Bay, Ont. on December 13, 1933, makes no predictions about next year. But at the moment, Mantha, who once scored 49 points in a single season, looks like he could go on and on. Player-Coach Dave Creighton says of Mantha: &ldquo;He sure is playing well.&rdquo;The swift world of hockey may lose Mantha to the game of golf. As owner, manager, superint endant and handyman of the Laurentide Golf Club, Moe spends extremely busy summers which have been stretching into the fall, making reporting to training camp a problem.His course covers 3,000 yards and he has 175 members plus a driving range to look after. Moe rarely plays himself.He may leave both the golf and hockey playing to his two sons, Moe, Jr. 7, and Bob. who is only four. Both want to be hockey players but show a definite interest in golf. &ldquo;Pop&rdquo; Mantha, a continual kibitzer and good natured rib artist, may be on the receiving end this time.Both Moe, Jr. and Bob are being primed as defensemen. But both told this reporter they plan to be forwards. &#9632;

f0016-01

Veteran Mantha Finds Old Ice Form

<h2>TUES. JAN. 28</h2>CLEVELAND 1 at QUEBEC 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02470/2895211-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="602" height="681"></div><h2>WED. JAN. 29</h2>BUFFALO 4 At PRCVIDENCE 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03370/2895204-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="588" height="451"></div>ROCHESTER 1 At HERSHEY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04295/2895197-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="592" height="575"></div>SPRINGFIELD 3 At BALTIMORE 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05223/2895190-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="586" height="601"></div>Penalties &mdash; Hicks 4:31, Ciottau 5:20, Hart, Mor-tenson 8:11, Pagnutti (double minor) 8:11, Krake 12:25, Bartlett 16:12, Arbour 17:01.Shots by: Springfield 28, Baltimore 33.Attendance: 3,910<h2>FRI. JAN. 31</h2>BALTIMORE 2 At CLEVELAND 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06176/2895183-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="592" height="129"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07163/2895176-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="598" height="403"></div>HERSHEY 8 At SPRINGFIELD 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08147/2895169-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="594" height="731"></div>PROVIDENCE 2 At ROCHESTER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09126/2895162-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="592" height="501"></div><h2>SAT. FEB. 1</h2>BUFFALO 1 At HERSHEY 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10106/2895155-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="586" height="333"></div>QUEBEC 2 At CLEVELAND 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1192/2895148-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="586" height="505"></div>ROCHESTER 2 at SPRINGFIELD 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1277/2895141-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="586" height="185"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1366/2895134-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="594" height="309"></div>PROVIDENCE 0 at BALTIMORE 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1461/2895127-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="598" height="559"></div><h2>SUN. FEB. 2</h2>SFRINGFIELD 4 at QUEBEC 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1555/2895120-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="598" height="597"></div>CLEVELAND 1 at BUFFALO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1652/2895113-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="604" height="557"></div>BALTIMORE 1 at ROCHESTER 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1746/2895106-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="602" height="573"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

American League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY, Pa.&mdash;The Eastern Division leading Hershey Bears will have an armful of candidates for the American League&rsquo;s all-star teams this season.On defense there&rsquo;s Ralph Keller, Barry Ashbee and Mike Mahoney.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01460/2895256-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="242" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Harvey</figcaption></div>Among the forwards are wingers Michel Harvey, Chuck Hamilton and Don Marcotte, while at center is Gil Gilbert.And among the goalie crop is long John Henderson, who is having one of his finest years in pro hockey.Keller, in his eighth AHL season, is one of the league&rsquo;s top scoring blueliners. The Wilkie, Saskatoon product ranks fifth among the Bears&rsquo; point parade with seven goals and 27 assists for 34 points.And right behind him is Mahoney with 26 points, ten coming on goals.&ldquo;Keller. Mahoney and Ashbee all are having a fine year,&rdquo; said coach Frank Mathers. &ldquo;They certainly have to be considered for the allstars. In fact, I think our five-man defensive unit is as strong as any in the league.&rdquo;Harvey, a nine-year veteran of the league, has been at the top of the circuit&rsquo;s scoring list practically all season.At the 44-game mark he was No. 1 with 26 goals and 33 assists for 59 points.Gilbert trailed his linemate by only two points with 18 goals and 39 assists, while Hamilton had 41 points on 15 goals and 26 assists.The Harvey - Gilbert - Hamilton line is the league&rsquo;s most powerful with 157 points and stands a good chance of surpassing the club&rsquo;s former record of 286 points. It was set in 195354 by the famed line of Lome Ferguson-Red Sullivan-Dunc Fisher. The trio garnered 116 goals and 170 assists that season.Marcotte, in his second season with Hershey, got off to a slow start, but has come on strong in recent weeks to show 18 goals by the 44 game mark.Henderson, without doubt, is one of the key reasons for the Bears holding first place in the East. In his last 11 starts, dating back to Dec. 21, the big guy has backstopped the club to eight wins, allowing only 28 goals in that span.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-07160/2895249-1-eng-US/f0017-072.jpg" title="f0017-07" width="556" height="549"><figcaption class="caption-body">RALPH KELLER &hellip; Top Scoring backliner</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-08129/2895242-1-eng-US/f0017-082.jpg" title="f0017-08" width="550" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE MAHONEY &hellip; Enjoying Fine Year</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

Bears Boast Array Of All-Stars

<h2>AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)EASTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02408/2895308-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="598" height="183"></div>WESTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03337/2895301-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="592" height="150"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETEC</h2>Tues. Jan 28Cleveland 1 at Quebec 7Wed. Jan. 29Springfield 3 at Baltimore 7Rochester 1 at Hershey 5Buffalo 4 at Providence 1Fri. Jan. 31Baltimore 2 at Cleveland 4Providence 2 at Rochester 4Hershey 5 pt Springfield 8Sat. Feb. 1Providence 0 at Baltimore 7Quebec 2 at Cleveland 4Buffalo 1 at Hershey 1Rochester 2 at Springfield 2Sun. Feb. 2Cleveland I at Buffolo 5Herhey 3 at Providence 4Springfield 4 at Quebec 3Baltimore 1 at Rochester 6<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tues. Feb. 4Springfield at QuebecFri. Feb. 7Hershey at BaltimoreRochester at BuffaloSat. Feb. 8Buffalo at ClevelandRochester at ProvidenceBaltimore at SprinqfieldSun. Feb. 9Hershey at BuffoloSprinqfield at ClevelandBaltimore at ProvidenceQuebec at Rochester<h2>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04264/2895294-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="598" height="515"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05217/2895287-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="598" height="612"></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

How They Stand

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;January 26 &hellip; a day to remember &hellip; and to forget if you&rsquo;re Bobby Perreault.It was Jan. 26. 1957, that Perreault first joined the Rochester Americans. They were struggling along in their first American Hockey League campaign with a 17-18-5 record and Charley Hodge was departing &ldquo;for a rest&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06182/2895339-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="270" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Perreault</figcaption></div>Bobby got beat that first night in Hershey, but with his goalkeeping a major contribution, the Amerks bounced back with a 17-6-0 record the rest of the way to miss first place by only three points. They went on to the Calder Cup finals before being eliminated from the playoffs.Now it was Jan. 26, 1968. Perreault shut out San Diego of the Western League, 4-0, here to run the Amerks&rsquo; undefeated streak to 11 and their winning skein to eight. Bobby, the goalie in all those games, allowed only 11 goals in the eight straight wins and 19 in the 11-game unbeaten string.Certainly a night to remember&hellip; a happy anniversary of his first appearance with Rochester.He went on to win the AHL&rsquo;s leading goaltender award, paced the league in shutouts and was voted to the second all-star team.But now it&rsquo;s Jan. 26, 1969. Bobby Perreault is sitting on a chair in the aisle-wav at the end of the Amerk bench here as his mates are opposing Hershey. He&rsquo;s got to be wondering if he&rsquo;s finished.He&rsquo;s played only 744 minutes (a little more than 12 complete games) in Rochester&rsquo;s first 46 games. He won&rsquo;t even qualify to defend his leading goaltender award because he must play 2.200 minutes to be eligible. There&rsquo;s no way, and he knows it.He hasn&rsquo;t started a game in nearly a month and eight of his complete games were prior to Thanksgiving. His goals-against average is 3.84.One reason he doesn&rsquo;t figure to see too much more ice time this season is a young man named Al Smith. Al was placed here by Toronto with the understanding he play regularly.Only a prolonged slump or an injury to Smith will give Perreault a chance to play more than a little the rest of the schedule. At this writing, Smith is having his troubles, and The Cat (Bobby&rsquo;s nickname) may be given one more opportunity.&ldquo;I got the good morale,&rdquo; Perreault says. &ldquo;When you get to be my age (Bobby celebrated his 38th birthday last Tuesday), there&rsquo;s always somebody younger coming along to take the job.&rdquo;Only four goalies in hockey have played pro longer than Perreault. He turned pro in 1951-52. Johnny Bower started in 1945-46, Terry Sawchuk in &rsquo;47-48, and Al Millar and Gump Worslev in &lsquo;50-51.The Cat&rsquo;s been counted out before, but he&rsquo;s always come back. &#9632;

f0017-06

Time Catches Up With Vet Goaier

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO, N.Y. &mdash;The Buffalo Bisons moved into a formidable lead in the Western Division as the American Hockey league schedule passed the midway point, and also appeared headed for a banner season at the box office.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01466/2895370-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="244" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Hannigan</figcaption></div>For many years, the Cleveland Barons and the Rochester Americans were the top attractions in Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium. The Barons remained near the head of the list but the Amerks, buried in last place, slipped somewhat.However, the Baltimore Clippers more than made up for whatever drop brought about by the Amerks&rsquo; poor showing. The Clippers attracted 23,000 in three appearances here, including a near sellout throng of 9,044 the last time they visited Memorial Auditorium.Keke Mortson. involved in several incidents with Gilles Villemure, the Buffalo goaltender, was No. 1 on the local fans&rsquo; hate parade. Mortson has denied he deliberately slugged Villemure earlier, and both agreed it was an accident when Mortson ran into him again.Mortson, teammate John Arbour and the Bisons&rsquo; Dennis Hextali were the principals in a free-for-all here in which Arbour and Hextali were banished after scuffling again in the penalty box.The turnout of 9,044 was the second-largest hockey crowd here in five years, and the Clippers were scheduled for one more visit in the regular season, March 9.The Barons and the Bisons drew 8,752 the night the Clevelanders ended the Herd&rsquo;s 16-game unbeaten streak here with a 2-1 win. The Hershey Bears, also a prime favorite with local hockey followers, attracted 8,520 early in the schedule.Although the Amerks will struggle in an effort to make the Calder Cup playoffs they have drawn crowds of 7,648, 6,517 and 7,464 here. The rising Baltimore-Buffalo rivalry has offset the drop in the Buffalo-Rochester rivalry.ALONG THE BOARDS &mdash; Pat Hannigan rejoined the Bisons after recovering from a shoulder injury, and the club was healthy for the first time in two months&hellip; Center Dennis Hextali, who holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of North Dakota, is taking postgraduate work in biology here at Buffalo State University&hellip; For the first time in history, the Bisons are wearing V-neck sweaters. Trainer Frank Christie used the new sweaters and stockings for the first time in a 4-1 win over Baltimore. &#9632;

f0018-01

Clippers Become Top Hockey Draw For Herd As 9,044 Attend Game

CLEVELAND, O. &mdash; One of the moves Jack Gordon made when he returned as Barons coach was to put Wayne Schultz, Cecil Hoekstra and Rick Sentes on one line &mdash; and leave them there.It&rsquo;s continuing to pay off.Hoekstra&rsquo;s line, with Schultz on left wing and Sentes on the right, even though he&rsquo;s a left-handed shot, has been Cleveland&rsquo;s most consistent.Improving steadily, the trio enjoyed its finest hour last week when the Barons whipped the Baltimore Clippers 5-2 recently.And if you&rsquo;re wondering when the Barons last scored five goals, so were they.It was Nov. 16th. The teams highest production this season was six goals, so last night was one to remember.The hard-working Hoekstra and Schultz have always been outstanding on defense, and they&rsquo;re still used to kill penalties, but with Sentes they&rsquo;re scoring better than ever. Schultz scored two goals (12 and 13) and Hoekstra one (his eight).&ldquo; WE&rsquo;RE WORKING well together,&rdquo; Hoekstra said. &ldquo; We&rsquo;re covering up for each other. It all comes with staying together.Coach Jack Gordon&rsquo;s icers have shown an ability to bounce back and win the big games. With improved play by some of the younger Barons and solid performances by the veterans, the Cleveland players are not conceding anything. The Barons have lost only three times in their last fifteen games at home. Under Gordon&rsquo;s capable leadership, no one is about to underestimate how far this club can go. &#9632;

Barons Roll As Hot Line Takes Over

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02376/2895425-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">New AHL publicist GORDON ANZIANO, left, and president JACK BUTTERFIELD are well established in league&rsquo;s new offices at Springfield.</figcaption></div>SPRINGFIELD, Mass &mdash;Besides the local Kings&rsquo; pro hockey team, Springfield also happens to be the site of the American Hockey League home office where Jack Butterfield, a local resident, serves as president of the loop. He managed to bring the league office here from Rochester.Since moving to Springfield, the AHL office has thrived. They have nice surroundings located at 100 Elm Street in West Springfield, suburb of Springfield. In fact, the AHL office is only a short hop from the Eastern States Coliseum where the Kings play.&ldquo;I was determined when I became AHL president, Butterfield proclaimed, &ldquo;that league headquarters would be in the Springfield area. It saves me plenty of traveling time.&rdquo;For many years, Butterfield was the right hand man of Eddie Shore, former owner of the teams here. Jack is well experienced in league and hockey business. His many years tenure under Shore will serve him well in the position.In addition to himself, publicist Gordon Anziano and secretary Susan Darling help run the office.Butterfield&rsquo;s biggest job right now is working on the league constitution so it matches up with their hook up with the NHL. Once the wording has been completed, Butterfield has to convince all the league cities to agree to it. It should not be too hard, but some are stubborn.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m also charge ot the pension fund for the players,&rdquo; Butterfield pointed out. &ldquo;There are also yearly schedule problems, gate receipts and league financial statements which I work on during the season.&rdquo;His biggest headache is the schedule. Most clubs send in their home dates around March. But then the fun starts. Many of the clubs have to make changes, due to rinks not being available.&ldquo;I also handle my share of complaints,&rdquo; Butterfield admits. &ldquo;After all we are like any other establishment. No one&rsquo;s ever satisfied. We try to make them all happy. We look into the various complaints.&rdquo;Anziano is the key man in the entire operation. He is the guy who puts all those tacts and figures into something interesting to send out every week to over 600 different names on the AHL mailing list.Anziano, who used to be a sports writer for the Springfield Union newspaper here, has his hands full now but he gets the job done for the AHL. &#9632;

f0018-02

AHL President Butterfield Set Up Shop In Springfield

<h2>WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02387/2895501-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="586" height="237"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Jan. 28San Diego 1 at Vancouver 10Wed. Jan. 29San Dego 2 at Portland 4Vancouver 2 at Seattle 5Thur. Jan. 30Phoenix 1 at San Diego 3Fri. Jan. 31Denver 3 at Phoenix 2Portland 5 ot Vancouver 3Sat. Feb. 1Denver 6 at Phoenix 8Portland 0 at Seattle 4Sun. Feb. 2Denver 6 at San Diego 2Seattle 0 ot Portland 3GAMES TO COMETues. Feb. 4Vancouver at SeattlePortland 5 at Son Diego 2bon Diego ot PhoenixWed. Feb. 5San Diego at PhoenixDenver at PortlandThurs. Feb. 6Denver at SeattleFri. Feb. 7San Dieqo at PhoenixDenver at VancouverSat. Feb. 8Vancouver at San DieqoPhoenix at PortlondSun. Feb. 9Vancouver ot San DieqoDenver at PortlandPhoenix at Seattle<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including Games of Sun. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03314/2895494-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="584" height="575"></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

For The Best In Hockey Reading It&rsquo;s HOCKEY PICTORIAL Hockey&rsquo;s Most Exciting PublicationSave $$$$$$ Subscribe To The HOCKEY NEWS Receive 35 Issues At Home & Save $3.75<h2>TUES. JAN. 21</h2>SEATTLE 4 At PHOENIX 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04269/2895574-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="596" height="627"></div><h2>WED. JAN. 22</h2>PORTLAND 2 At SAN DIEGO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05224/2895567-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="594" height="625"></div><h2>THURS. JAN. 23</h2>SEATTLE 3 At PHOENIX 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06176/2895560-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="598" height="503"></div>PORTLAND 5 At SAN DIEGO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07152/2895553-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="598" height="647"></div><h2>FRI. JAN. 24</h2>PORTLAND 6 At SEATTLE 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08137/2895546-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="568" height="85"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09116/2895539-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="594" height="653"></div>SAN DIEGO 2 At VANCOUVER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1182/2895532-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="596" height="603"></div> &#9632;

f0019-04

Western League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY TOM RENO</div>New Subscribers To THE HOCKEY NEWS Guaranteed To Get First Issue Within Two WeeksHOCKEY NEWS Makes An Ideal Gift On Any Occasion. Give A Subscription To Dad Or BrotherOMAHA. Neb. &mdash;A month ago. Omaha was a distant third in the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division and the Knights did not have even one player listed among the scoring leaders. But things have changed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01289/2895605-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="252" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Egers</figcaption></div>Omaha has staged a strong spurt in recent weeks, pulling into a first place tie with Tulsa while collecting 19 of a possible 28 points, including five victories in a row. And, the Knights now have three players in the top 10 in scoring with a combined total of 139 points.Bill Fairbairn leads the Omaha trio with 48 points, good enough for fourth place in the league. The others are Juha Widing with 46 points and rookie-Jack Egers with 45.Terrific all-around play, including four goals and one assist, has earned Egers the CHL &ldquo;Player of the Week&rdquo; honors. This lifts his first-vear totals to 23 goals and 22 assists. The 6-1. 180-pounder last year was the top goal scorer (53) in the Ontario Hockey Association Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; League while playing for Kitchener.Jim Lorentz of Oklahoma City added eight points to his front-running total and now has 84 points on 26 goals and 58 assists. He is followed by the top goal scorer in the loop. Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Tom Webster with 27 goals and a total of 65 points. Houston&rsquo;s Chris Bordeleau is third with 52 points.A 1-0 shutout of Fort Worth enabled Jack Norris of Dallas to lower his goals-against average to 2.00 for the season. It was the fourth shutout of the campaign for Norris. &#9632;

f0020-01

Rookie Egers Spearheads Omaha To New CHL Heights

CENTRAL LEAGUE(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)NORTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-21/2895650-1-eng-US/f0020-212.jpg" title="f0020-21" width="578" height="179"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-22/2895643-1-eng-US/f0020-222.jpg" title="f0020-22" width="584" height="173"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. Jan. 28Dallas 2 at Houston 1Wed. Jan. 29Amarillo 3 at Omaha 2Dallas 3 at Memphis 6Fcrt Worth 2 at Oklahoma City 6Fri. Jan. 31Houston 3 ot Tulsa 5Amarillo 4 at Memphis 2Sat. Feb. 1Oklahoma City 3 at Dallas 3Amarillo 3 at Tulsa 7Fort Worth 2 at Omaha 5Houston 3 at Konsos City 1Sun. Feb. 2Dallas 1 ot Amarillo 3Fort Worth 3 at Kansas City 3Memphis 2 at Omaha 7<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Jan. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-23/2895636-1-eng-US/f0020-232.jpg" title="f0020-23" width="596" height="711"></div> &#9632;

f0020-21

Looking At CHL Race

<h2>WED. JAN. 15</h2>TULSA 2 at FORT WORTH 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02212/2895807-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="594" height="527"></div><h2>FRI. JAN. 17</h2>AMARILLO 2 at KANSAS CITY 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03176/2895800-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="594" height="575"></div>HOUSTON 3 at OKLAHOMA CITY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04133/2895793-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="596" height="621"></div><h2>SAT. JAN. 18</h2>FORT WORTH 1 at TULSA 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0569/2895786-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="588" height="325"></div>KANSAS CITY 3 at OMAHA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0651/2895779-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="590" height="625"></div>OKLAHOMA CITY 2 at HOUSTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0742/2895772-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="588" height="645"></div><h2>SUN. JAN. 19</h2>AMARILLO 2 at HOUSTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0835/2895765-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="588" height="453"></div>FORT WORTH 6 at KANSAS CITY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0924/2895758-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="590" height="477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1020/2895751-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="584" height="335"></div>MEMPHIS 4 at Oklahoma City 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1114/2895744-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="590" height="675"></div>TULSA 3 at DALLAS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1213/2895737-1-eng-US/f0020-122.jpg" title="f0020-12" width="590" height="619"></div><h2>WED. JAN. 22</h2>AMARILLO 1 At OKLAHOMA CITY 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1311/2895730-1-eng-US/f0020-132.jpg" title="f0020-13" width="600" height="495"></div>HOUSTON 4 At MEMPHIS 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1410/2895723-1-eng-US/f0020-142.jpg" title="f0020-14" width="596" height="401"></div><h2>THURS. JAN. 23</h2>TULSA 3 At HOUSTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1510/2895716-1-eng-US/f0020-152.jpg" title="f0020-15" width="582" height="357"></div><h2>FRI. JAN. 24</h2>FORT WORTH 0 At DALLAS 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-166/2895709-1-eng-US/f0020-162.jpg" title="f0020-16" width="596" height="353"></div>MEMPHIS 3 At AMARILLO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-174/2895702-1-eng-US/f0020-172.jpg" title="f0020-17" width="596" height="379"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-183/2895695-1-eng-US/f0020-182.jpg" title="f0020-18" width="590" height="205"></div>OKLAHOMA CITY 2 At OMAHA 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-19/2895688-1-eng-US/f0020-192.jpg" title="f0020-19" width="598" height="587"></div><h2>SAT. JAN. 25</h2>MEMPHIS 2 At OKLAHOMA CITY 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-20/2895681-1-eng-US/f0020-202.jpg" title="f0020-20" width="584" height="755"></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

Central Hockey League Summaries

EASTERN LEAGUE(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)NORTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01152/2895908-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="596" height="241"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02113/2895901-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="598" height="201"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Jan 28Jacksonville 6 at New Jersey 3Charlotte 6 at Salem 0Syrocuse 7 at Clinton 3Wed. Jan. 29Long Island 3 at New Haven 5Johnstown 2 at Clinton 4Thurs. Jan. 30Salem 5 at Charlotte 4Long Island 5 at New Jersey 2Greensboro 7 at Jacksonville 6Fri. Jan. 31Greensboro 1 at Charlote 8Clinton 4 ot New Jersey 3Jacksonville 1 at Nashville 4New Haven 7 at Syracuse 3Sat. Feb. 1New Hoven 6 ot Long Island 4Nashville 5 at Greensboro 6New Jersey 1 ot Clinton 5Jacksonville 2 ai Solerr 8Sun. Feb. 2New Jersey 4 at Syracuse 1Jacksonville 4 at New Haven 7Salem 2 at Charlotte 9<h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sat. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0375/2895894-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="602" height="343"></div><h2>IEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0464/2895887-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="594" height="231"></div><h2>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0557/2895880-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="598" height="239"></div><h2>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Sat. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0649/2895873-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="600" height="209"></div>WESTERN ONTARIO JUNIOR(Standings on Sat. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0741/2895866-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="596" height="205"></div>SASKATCHEWAN JUNIOR(Standings on Mon. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0835/2895859-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="596" height="169"></div>NEW YORK METRO LEAGUE(Standings on Mon. Jan. 27)Eastern Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0929/2895852-1-eng-US/f0021-092.jpg" title="f0021-09" width="594" height="177"></div>Western Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1026/2895845-1-eng-US/f0021-102.jpg" title="f0021-10" width="588" height="171"></div>LEADING SCORERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1120/2895838-1-eng-US/f0021-112.jpg" title="f0021-11" width="602" height="333"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>COMMACK, N.Y. &mdash;The key to the playoff hopes of the Long Island Ducks is goalie Roger Wilson who suddenly has become a big man for the Eastern Hockey League team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1213/2895939-1-eng-US/f0021-122.jpg" title="f0021-12" width="252" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Labelle</figcaption></div>Regular goalie Norm De Felice definitely is lost for the season with his shoulder ailment so Wilson, who has been shuttling around the circuit, will hold the job the rest of the way. The only possibility of his departure is for an emergency to arise in Charlotte since he actually is Checkers property.Wilson is delighted with the chance and also happy with the knowledge he will stay here the rest of the year. &ldquo;I love it here and I want to stay. I just hope I can help these guys,&rdquo; he says.The aspirations of coach John Brophy have been dipping lately. A few weeks back first place was not out of sight. The Ducks&rsquo; latest losses have all but dissipated their chances of second and third place. So they have to concentrate on winning the fourth slot, the last playoff billet.To insure such an eventuality they have to beat out the Jersey Devils who lately have been making menacing gestures. Nine games remain between the two clubs at this writing and they could determine the fourth playoff spot victor.Wilson did well in his stint in the Ducks cage as he has one of the circuit&rsquo;s top defenses in front of him. Coach Brophy&rsquo;s problems have been concentrated in getting some offense out of his troops.As for DeFelice, who played in only 23 games this year, it&rsquo;s questionable whether he will return next season. He&rsquo;s no youngster any more and the operation may cut his desire to play. Thus Wilson has a chance to earn a permanent berth especially since Charlotte appears set with Bob Whidden as its netminder and doesn&rsquo;t figure to need Roger.NASHVILLE: Cliff pennington&rsquo;s sixth hat trick helped rout Charlotte. Leo Olivier, Don Labelle and Flo Pilote averaging about 40 minutes on ice at defense. Coach Lloyd Hinchberger thought that 14 wins in the club&rsquo;s 18 final games might be enough to beat out Greensboro. Labelle likely will finish season with Flyers. Offense has perked up of late.SYRACUSE: Wayne Rutledge did well in nets subbing for injured Tony Gale. A host of fights broke out during game here with Jersey with Blazers Paul Lessard and Jim Whittaker right in the middle of the melees. Club dropped three straight one goal games at home to dishearten coach Ray Crew.GREENSBORO: Gens had 7-game unbeaten streak before losing to Charlotte. Club took some sails out of challenging Nashville with 8-0 win. Defenseman Doug Carpenter only Gen without a goal.Goalie Peter McDuffe caught warmup shot in eye and wore mouse against Charlotte. Stu Roberts showed courage in decking John Brophy of Long Island. Dom DiBerardino slowed by knee injury.CHARLOTTE: Checkers have favorable schedule in homestretch in effort to rise in South. Chuck Stuart and Barry Simpson both back in lineup after long absence due to injuries. Two others, Jack McCreary and Allie Sutherland, still out. Defenseman Rick Foley is club&rsquo;s scoring leader and forward Roger Ouimet is leader up front.SALEM: Rebels tied club record with three straight wins. Team has successful northern trip, losing only one game, and with better luck could have won them all. Outstanding player at home games gets a beverage mug from Boosters Club. Wally Chase suffered concussion in game at Jersey. Goalie George Surmay bothered by pulled muscle.JERSEY: Devils finally won a road game at Syracuse for first triumph in 22 tries. They came right back to earn tie at Clinton. Bob Taylor had 57 saves vs Conmets. Devils played what coach Marcel Pelletier termed club&rsquo;s most &ldquo;disorganized game of season&rdquo; in loss to Salem. Jamie Kennedy suffered 10-stitch eye cut from Syracuse&rsquo;s Lee Inglis&rsquo; stick.JACKSONVILLE: Greensboro goal with 56 seconds left killed Rockets hope of tie on road. Then Ron Willy&rsquo;s late goal nipped Long Island. Ice sticky for Ducks game Willy and Harold White in close battle for club scoring lead. Team slept on bus for four straight nights due to rigorous travel schedule.JOHNSTOWN: Danny Patrick engaged in stick swinging duel with Clinton&rsquo;s Pat Kelly after having a previous melee with Comets Dave Armstrong. Goalie Lynn Zimmerman ejected from Jersey games and Jim Coombs finished game.NEW HAVEN: Blades showered with beer cans and other missiles at Long Island. Club refused to come out for third period without escort. Former Blade, Ray Carpentier, who underwent shoulder operation in March, is playing on a part time basis in Manchester, N.H.CLINTON: Borden Smith&rsquo;s goal with 45 seconds left earned tie at Johnstown. Coach Pat Kelly delighted with play of Kid Line of Joe Robertson, Moe St. Jacques and Jack Rathwell. Billy Armour exercised with weights to help his bad knees, Don Herriman&rsquo;s late goal nipped Syracuse. &#9632;

f0021-12

Ducks’ Playoff Hopes To Rest On Play Of Sub Goaler Wilson

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Jan. 24)NORTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1311/2895977-1-eng-US/f0021-132.jpg" title="f0021-13" width="604" height="279"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-149/2895970-1-eng-US/f0021-142.jpg" title="f0021-14" width="600" height="283"></div> &#9632;

f0021-13

EHL Point Race

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE(Standings on Mon. Feb. 3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01169/2896050-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="582" height="271"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Jon. 28Toledo 2 ot Columbus 1Wed. Jan. 290Port Huron 2 ot Dayton 2Des Moines 1 at Fort Wayne 1Muskegon 3 at Toledo 8Fri. Jan. 31Port Huron 3 at Des Moines 5Toledo 3 ot Muskegon 2Dayton 3 at Columbus 0Sat. Feb. 1Fort Wayne 3 at Muskegon 8Port Huron 2 at Des Moines 7Dayton 2 at Toledo 5Sun. Feb. 2Toledo 2 at Dayton 6Fcrt Wayne 0 at Columbus 2LEADING SCORERS(Including Games of Fri. Jan. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02109/2896043-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="582" height="205"></div>ONTARIO JUNIOR A&rsquo;(Standings on Tues. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0395/2896036-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="592" height="371"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Jan 28Peterborough 8 ot London 8Kitchener 3 ot Oshawa 3Montreal 5 at Niagara Falls 2Thurs. Jan. 30St. Catharines 4 at Hamilton 3Toronto 1 at Peterborough 2Fri. Jan. 31London 3 at Montreal 4Homilton 1 at Niagora Falls 4Oshawa 1 at Kitchener 3Sun. Feb. 2Toronto 4 at St. Catharines 5Homilton 3 at Montreal 4Kitchener 4 at Ottawa 3Niagara Falls 2 at London 1Peterborough I ot Oshawa 1LEAD1NG SCORERS(Including Gomes of Sun. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0477/2896029-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="590" height="557"></div>MICHIGAN JUNIOR LEAGUE(Standings on Fri. Jan. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0567/2896022-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="580" height="199"></div>BORDER CITIES JUNIOR(Standings on Fri. Jan. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0651/2896015-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="584" height="343"></div>QUEBEC SENIOR LEAGUE(Standings on Mon. Feb. 3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0749/2896008-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="584" height="227"></div>(*plays only partial schedule) &#9632;

f0022-01

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div>MUSKEGON. Mich.&mdash;It looks as if the Muskegon Mohawks have lost their captain and second leading scorer for the remainder of the season.Bryan McLay was scheduled to undergo sur-gery for a kid-ney ailment ana mere was nine hope that he could resume play this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0843/2896088-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="249" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Rupp</figcaption></div>McLay was scheduled to dergo surgery for a kidney aliment and there was little hope that he could resume play this season.The veteran right winger was the only remaining member of the original Muskegon club, coming here in the initial season, 1960-61 when the Milwaukee club folded. He played in 56 games that season and since then he has appeared in every Mohawk game. When he was unable to make a trip to Fort Wayne he broke a long string of consecutive games, well over 500, in (which respect he was second only to Port Huron&rsquo;s Guy James.McLay has played in 590 regular season games for the Mohawks and ranked third in the IHL among active point leaders at the start of the season. As a Mohawk he has scored 425 goals and 445 assists for 870 points in regular season play and added 27 goals and 24 assists in playoffs for a grand total of 921 points. He had 34 points for the old Cincinnati club in 1957-58.His best season here was 196566 when he had 43 goals and 76 assists for 119 points. A durable and determined competitor, McLay maintainedhis consecutive games record by playing frequently in spite of injuries and illness.McLay played in 44 games this season, scoring 19 goals and 39 assists for 58 points to rank second only to center Gary Ford. Coach Moose Lallo was faced with some line juggling to replace McLay.DAYTON &mdash; Don Westbrooke, league&rsquo;s leading scorer, had his sixth hat trick of the season in a 44 tie at Fort Wayne. He is one hat trick away from the league record &hellip; The Gems presented the 100,000th fan who went through the turnstiles with a season ticket for next year. He was Richard L. Stewart who had never seen a hockey game. A 5,600 crowd at the Gem-Komet game was the second sellout of the season &hellip; goalie Pat Rupp had his third shutout.PORT HURON &mdash; Port Huron was entertaining the &ldquo;world&rsquo;s largest hockey tournament&rdquo; the Silver Stick Tournament, a boys&rsquo; even composing 63 teams from six states and Canada, with nearly 1,000 youngsters participating &hellip; The Flags, with a poor 4-16-2 record away from home, jolted the Blades on their own ice, 4-2 &hellip; Bob Howard, a defenseman, was purchased from Des Moines, where he had been suspended &hellip; Dave Green and Ross Eichler, out since early in the season, started to work out.FORT WAYNE &mdash; Merv Dubchak had his third hat trick of the season in a 4-3 victory over Muskegon &hellip; Len Thomson, out for many weeks with an eye injury, had a cheek bone fractured, after which he donned a helmet &hellip; The Komets had their fifth crowd over 7,000 against Dayton, for a season total of 125,837 in 25 games &hellip; Rookies Ken Knapton and Ron Ullvot scored the goals in a 2-2 tie with Toledo:TOLEDO &mdash; The Blades, who had gone 23-games at home without a loss (three ties) had their string broken by Port Huron, 4-2 &hellip; The Blades had well balanced scoring, with eight players over double figures in goals and four over the 20 mark &hellip; Glenn Ramsay&rsquo;s goals-against mark was 2.57 &hellip; The Blades penalty-killing crew had held the opposition to one goal in their last 42 penalties.DES MOINES &mdash; General manager coach Howie Milford, 40, donned a uniform for the first time in 10 years when the Oak Leafs were reduced to three defensemen &hellip; Milford was unsuccessful in attempting to get a defenseman from Dayton and also in persuading Moe Bartoli, deposed Columbus coach, to join the Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0939/2896081-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="541" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN McLAY &hellip; Faces Kidney Operation</figcaption></div>COLUMBUS The Checkers registered their sixth consecutive home ice victory when they dropped the Blades; 3-2 &hellip; Doug Volmar had a record of 47 4 goals in 47 games &hellip; Marcel Goyette, lured out of retirement, fired his first goal as a Checker &hellip; Former coach Moe Bartoli had a meeting with 20 business men to discuss buying the Checkers &hellip; New goalie Gerry Randall was in the nets for his 10th straight game and had a 6-3 record. &#9632;

f0022-08

Muskegon May Lose Captain For Season; Dayton’s Westbrooke Nets 6th Hat Trick

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Hockey observers across North America are beginning to sit up and take notice of the phenomenal crowds being drawn by Montreal Junior Canadiens to their OHA Junior &lsquo;A&rsquo; encounters.The Baby Habs, who are averaging approximately 12,000 fans per game for their Sunday night home stands and over 7,000 on weeknights, broke their own Canadian Junior hockey single game gate record Jan. 31 against London Knights.An astonishing total of 18,133 fans filed into the Montreal Forum that night to witness the Junior Canucks&rsquo; 4-3 victory over the Knights The game was highlighted by the spectacular goaltending of London&rsquo;s Gilles Gilbert.The turnout beat the North American junior hockey attendance record set exactly five days earlier when 17,015 enthusiasts flocked to the Forum for Montreal&rsquo;s victerious meeting with Toronto Marlboros.Backed by such vigorous support, the Montrealers have lost only one game on home ice in 20 tries this year. That was a 6-4 setback suffered at the hands of the lowly Ottawa 67s early in the season before the Habs had hit their stride.Only a 5-5 tie with St. Catharines last week and that loss to Ottawa have prevented the Junior Canadiens from piling up a perfect 20-0 mark at home.However, the Montreal crew has been something less than sensational in the confines of less friendly environs. The Canadiens are playing only slightly better than 500 hockey on the road with a ledger of eight wins, seven de feats and three ties.Psychologists, hockey &ldquo;experts&rdquo; and other interested parties have tried to explain the sudden revival of fan interest in junior hockey in Montreal. A variety of answers have been gleaned, and it seems to boil down to these factors:1&mdash;Hockey fans in Montreal are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the lethargic play of the NHL Canadiens in recent weeks, and many have switched to the juniors as their new heroes.2&mdash;Tickets for the junior games are less expensive and more easily obtainable.3&mdash;The fights. Fans love violence, no matter how much they insist otherwise. Junior games in Montreal are practically guaranteed to include at least one fistic outbreak per night.Despite its over-all record of 26-8-4, the Junior Canadiens nevertheless find themselves in no better than adeadlock for first place. St. Catharines shares that spot; but Montreal carries an ace in the hole with five games in hand. &#9632;

Junior Habs Draw Fantastic Crowds

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>ST. CATHARINES, Ont&mdash;Bob Sheehan, the Boston - born center acquired by St. Catharines Black Hawks from Halifax Canadiens this season, scoried three goals and three assists as the Hawks defeated Ottawa 67s 8-5.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01149/2896143-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="256" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don O&rsquo;Donoghue</figcaption></div>He received his U.S. draft notice two months ago but was deferred because of his status as a student.The six points moved Sheehan into first place in the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A League, three points above the former leader Rick Kessell of Oshawa Generals.However 24 hours after the 19-year-old star had taken over the top spot St. Catharines coach Brian Shaw landed a bombshell among Hawk fans by suspending indefinitely both Sheehan and right winger Don O&rsquo;Donoghue.O&rsquo;Donoghue had been sidelined for more than a week with a shoulder dislocation but both brought down the wrath of Shaw by allegedly breaking training rules following the Oshawa game.In the first 40 St. Catharines games Sheehan had scored 41 goals and 37 assists for 78 points and had an excellent chance of becoming the first American player to win the Ontario junior scoring championship. &#9632;

f0023-01

Black Hawks’ Coach Throws Book At Rule-Breaking Scoring Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02110/2896174-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="898" height="1185"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 15 ISSUE</h2>ACROSS1&mdash;Pictured player.4&mdash;First name of one of the Bruins.7&mdash;The (fr.)8&mdash;Frank&rsquo;s brother.9&mdash;A Red Wing rookie.11&mdash;Initials of Labadie of Buffalo.12&mdash;Native Province of 2 down, (abbr.)15&mdash;Initials of Stratton of Seattle.16&mdash;Period of time.18&mdash;John Bower was born in this Month, (abbr.)20&mdash;No. (fr.)21&mdash;Initials of Armstrong of Rochester.23&mdash;Girl&rsquo;s name.24&mdash;One of the Leafs.27&mdash;Ex-Wing Pavelich answers to this.29&mdash;Initials of one of the Hawks.30&mdash;Giacomin recordedone Jan. 29. (abbr.)31&mdash;Scored ten goals for Oakland last season.DOWN1&mdash;An N.H.L. centre, tre.2&mdash;One of the Rangers.3&mdash;Goalies have good ones.4&mdash;Initials of one of the Leafs.5&mdash;Former Ranger Heller answers to this.6&mdash;Compass point.8&mdash;14 down registered 49 last season (abbr.)10&mdash;20th and 1st letters of the alphabet.13&mdash;One of the Flyers.14&mdash;Last season&rsquo;s rookie winner.17&mdash;Initials of one of the Bruins.19&mdash;A Philadelphia defenseman.22&mdash;One of the Buffalo Bisons25&mdash;Same as ten down.26&mdash;Baseball term, (abbr.)28&mdash;Golf ball stand.29&mdash;Initials of a Ranger centre.30&mdash;Initials of Detroit&rsquo;s General Manager.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2>ACROSS1&mdash;BUCYK.5&mdash;MAT.8&mdash;AVE.9&mdash;ALE.10&mdash;LORENTZ.12&mdash;I.L.13&mdash;ST.14&mdash;VIC.16&mdash;RAY.18&mdash;EVE.19&mdash;A.E.20&mdash;G.S.22&mdash;URN.24&mdash;SOS.25&mdash;ELLETT.27&mdash;FIVE.29&mdash;AT.30&mdash;R. I.31&mdash;DENIS.34&mdash;MENARDDOWN1&mdash;BELIVEAU.2&mdash;CAR.3&mdash;YVES.4&mdash;KENT.5&mdash;MAZUR.6&mdash;AL.7&mdash;TERRY.11&mdash;OLIVER.15&mdash;C.E.17&mdash;ANGOTTI.21&mdash;S.S.23&mdash;NEVIN.24&mdash;STAN.26&mdash;LE.28&mdash;IRE.31&mdash;D.R.32&mdash;ED.33&mdash;S.N. &#9632;

f0023-02

Hockey Crossword

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01160/2896212-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="537" height="861"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAROL VADNAIS &hellip; Finally Arrived</figcaption></div>OAKLAND, Calif. &mdash;It&rsquo;s been a long time&mdash;25 years in fact&mdash;since a defenseman in the National Hockey League has had a chance to crack the 20-goal trick.One is Bobby Orr, the fantastic 20-year old Boston Bruin superstar and the other is the Oakland Seals&rsquo; own Carol Vadnais, a rapidly developing 23-year old.Toronto rookie Jim Dorey, isn&rsquo;t in the same class offensively as either Orr or Vadnais, but the Leaf scrapper is very big in the penalty department, in fact he leads the NHL with 156 minutes. Vadnais has 104 and has assumed a &ldquo;policeman&rsquo;s&rdquo; role with his young Seal squad,.Orr, and Vadnais are the best scoring defenseman with 13 goals each. Orr also had 32 assists in 48 games. Vadnais has considerably fewer assists, but the two are the NHL&rsquo;s best shooting defenders by a mile. Dorey has 5 goals and 16 assists for 21 points.Vadnais, a rugged 6-1, 190 pounder, has really made his goals count. He has four gamewinners and two first goals among his 13 and he&rsquo;s even had three two goal performances.&ldquo;Orr is just great,&rdquo; says Glover, the Seals&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;He does everything well. He shoots, skates, and manages his club so well when he&rsquo;s on the ice, he makes it difficult on Boston opponents.&ldquo;But while Orr has a chance for 20 goals, so does Carol. Vadnais has improved greatly over what he was at the start of the season.&ldquo;His improvement has been especially noticeable over the past six weeks. He started concentrating more on what he&rsquo;s doing. At first he wanted to play the puck more than the man in our end of the rink and he was getting into trouble. But he has matured a lot and is using his strength and long reach with considerably more effectiveness,&rdquo; explains Glover.The 23-year-old Vadnais was the Seals&rsquo; first round pick in the NHL expansion, draft last June and although he did get off to a sluggish start, he has finally arrived.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02110/2896205-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="541" height="861"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR &hellip; Lauded By Glover</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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February 8, 1969

Hockey Races

U.S. Coach Eddie Jeremiah Given Posthumous Award

Heiskala’s Return Helps Lift Totems

MONTREAL EYEING TOP AGAIN WITH RETURN OF THE GUMPER